l_  I  B  R  / 
STA 

1 
SANTA  BARBARA,  CALIFORNIA 


\ 


THE     HOUSE 

ITS  PLAN, 
DECORATION  AND  CARE 


ISABEL  BEVIfiR 


AMERICAN  SCHOOL  OF  HOME  ECONOMICS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 

1911 


A/4 
7120 


CONTENTS 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HOUSE I 

DEVELOPEMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HOUSE         .        .-        20 

THE  MODERN  HOUSE .49 

HOUSE  PLANNING 52 

ENTRANCES 58 

THE  FARM  HOUSE        .        .  ...        74 

ROOMS 80 

STAIRS 90 

SECOND  FLOOR  PLAN       . 95 

APARTMENTS 95 

CONSTRUCTION  OF  THE  HOUSE 101 

FLOORS 109 

DECORATION  AND  FURNISHINGS 123 

DRAPERIES 139 

FURNITURE       ...  ....  145 

CARE  OF  THE  HOUSE 152 

HOUSES  OF  THE  TRANSITIONAL  PERIOD         .        .        .  i^- 

COLOR  IN  DECORATION 170 

HOUSEHOLD  CONVENIENCES 181 

PLANS  FOR  A  $2,000  COTTAGE i85 

COMPLETE  HOUSE  PLANS 185 

THE  COST  OF  BUILDING  BY  FRANK  CHOUTEAU  BROWN  189 
PROGRAM  FOR  SUPPLEMENTAL  STUDY  ....  217 
INDEX  221 


AMERICAN   SCHOOL  OF  HOME  ECONOMICS 
CHICAGO 

January  1,  1907. 
My  dear  Madam: 

As  the  home  is  so  inseparably 
connected  with  the  house  and  as  our  comfort  and 
efficiency  are  so  greatly  influenced  by  the  kind 
of  houses  in  which  we  live,  much  of  interest  and 
importance  centers  in  the  study  of  "The  House" 

Moreover,  with  the  house,  its  evolution, 
decoration,  and  care  may  be  associated  much  that 
is  interesting  in  history,  art,  and  architecture, 
as  well  as  much  that  has  a  direct  bearing  on  the 
daily  life  of  the  individual. 

These  lessons  are  the  outgrowth  of  some 
class  work' in  which  the  students  and  I  have  found 
pleasure  and  profit,  so  I  am  glad  to  pass  them 
oh  with  whatever  of  information  and  inspiration 
they  may  have  for  another  and  larger  class  Of 
students. 

If  they  help  to  a  better  conception  and 
a  truer  appreciation  of  the  meaning  of  the  terms 


house  and  hone,  they  have  not  failed  in  their 
purpose. 

Sincerely  yours, 


TEEE  DWELLINGS  OF  THE  TRIBES'OF  CENTRAL  AFRICA 

From  "  1,'HobiUtion  Humint" 


THE   HOUSE 

Its  Plan,  Decoration  and  Care 


T  N  our  study  of  the  House  it  will  be  interesting  to 
*  review  briefly  what  is  known  about  the  earliest 
human  habitations  and  the  way  in  which  the  modern 
house  has  developed. 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HOUSE. 

It  may  be  well  to  consider  what  is  meant  by  the 
term  "the  evolution  of  the  house."  One  hears  much 
in  these  days  about  evolution  in  plans,  plants,  ani- 
mals. For  present  purposes  the  following  definition 
seems  best  suited :  "Evolution  is  a  process  in  which, 
by  a  series  of  continuous  progressive  changes,  a  com- 
plex arrangement,  agency,  or  organism  is  developed 
from  rude  or  simple  beginnings  as  the  evolution  of 
civilization  from  savagery ;  the  evolution  of  a  chicken 
from  an  egg."  The  evolution  of  the  house,  then, 
means  that  progressive  series  of  changes  by  which 
the  modern  house  has  developed  or  evolved  from  an 
earlier  and  simpler  form. 

What   were    some   of  these    simpler   forms?    The 

.  .  Simpler 

modern  house  has  a  very  denr.'te   meaning  to  most      Forma 
of  us,  but  how  little  we  know  of  its  beginnings.     Let 
us  go  back  into  that  dim  and  shadowy  past  and  find 
what  it  can  tell  us  about  the  earlier  human  habitations. 


THE  HOUSE 

It  is  so  difficult  to  trace  beginnings  even  of  most  im- 
portant events  and  inventions.  The  origin  of  lan- 
guage, the  origin  of  the  family,  the  earliest  home  of 
the  human  race,  are  alike  unknown ;  so  we  shall  not 
hope  to  find  the  first  human  dwelling,  but  to  find  types 
of  early  human  habitations,  and  in  a  study  of  these 
types  to  be  enabled  to  see  the  evolution  of  the  modern 
house. 

However  much  the  modern  house  may  differ  from 
the  earliest  dwelling  place,  since  both  were  destined 
to  serve  the  needs  of  human  beings,  we  may  assume 
that  the  earlier,  as  the  later  form,  has  been  intended  to 
meet  some  primal  human  need.  Man  today  needs 
shelter  from  the  summer's  heat  and  the  winter's  cold, 
protection  from  the  wind  and  the  storm,  defense  from 
wild  beasts ;  so  it  seems  most  probable  that  his  brother 
man  in  the  earlier  ages  of  the  world  had  these  same 
human  needs.  Those  who  have  studied  most  about 
early  human  habitations  seem  quite  agreed  that  man 
found  his  first  shelter  under  the  spreading  branches 
of  a  tree.  In  a  warm  climate  and  in  the  absence  of 
wild  beasts  a  tree  might  meet  his  requirement  for 
shelter  from  the  sun's  rays.  Viollet  Le  Due  in  his 
"Habitations  of  Man  in  all  Ages,"  gives  us  a  picture 
of  this  first  human  dwelling.  Moreover  we  know  that 
trees  are  now  occupied  by  tribes  in  Central  Africa 
and  South  America. 


EVOLUTION  01;   THE  HOUSE 


The  overlapping  and  intertwining  of  the  branches      Tr6eg 
are  supposed  to  have  suggested  the  thatched  roof  for 
which  shingles  were  later  substituted.     Viollet  Le  Due 


-    — i ,  i ,  1*1 


r 


FIRST  HUMAN  DWELLING 

shows  how  the  primitive  hut  may  have  been  suggested 
by  this-  putting  together  of  the  branches  of  the  tree 
and  intertwining  of  them.  But  trees  are  not  found 
everywhere  and  cannot  be  moved  from  place  to  place. 


THE  HOUSE 


Among  nomadic  tribes  whose  place  of  habitation  is 
dependent  upon  the  water  supply  and  the  pasture  a 


PRIMITIVE  HUT  MADE  BY  INTERTWINING  OF  BRANCHES 

movable  dwelling  is  a  necessity.  A  small  amount 
of  wood  would  serve  as  a  frame  work  or  support  and 
skin  for  a  covering,  while  its  lightness  and  ease  of 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HOUSE  5 

transportation  made  the  tent  a  most  desirable  dwell- 
ing. We  read  how  Abraham  sat  at  the  door  of  his 
tent,  and  how  the  Israelites  dwelt  in  booths  at  the 


TENT  OR  HUT 
[  Light  framework  covered  with  Reeds  or  "Woven  Straw 

time  of  one  of  their  great  festivals.  "And  ye  shall 
take  you  on  the  first  day  the  boughs  of  goodly  trees, 
branches  of  palm  trees  and  the  boughs  of  thick  trees 
and  willows  of  the  brook — ye  shall  dwell  in  booths 


TENTS  OP  NOMADIC  TRIBES 

seven  days."* 
One  other  form  of  dwelling  which  Nature  has  pro- 


Tents 


Cavei 


•Levttlcna  rxlll,  40. 


6  THE  HOUSE 

vided  for  her  children  was  that  of  the  cave  in  the  rock 
from  which  it  was  sometimes  necessary  to  drive  out 
the  lower  animals  before  it  could  be  used  by  man. 
The  cave  finds  its  modern  counterpart  in  the  "dugout" 


Pueblos 


TWO-STORIED  TENT  COVERED  WITH  SKINS 

of  the  west.  The  sod  house  or  "dugouts"  are  neither 
so  durable  nor  desirable  as  the  log  cabin  which  has 
served  as  a  dwelling  place  for  so  many  pioneers.  The 
log  cabin  seems  to  be  the  most  universal  form  of  early 
dwelling.  Types  of  it  are  found  among  primitive  and 
modern  races,  in  Russia,  and  in  all  parts  of  the  United 
States. 

Two  other  forms  of  human  habitations  are  of  in- 
terest particularly  to  Americans.    First :  The  pueblos  ; 


EVOLUTION  OP  THE  HOUSE  7 

this  name  signifies  a  market  town  or  village  and  is  ap- 
plied to  the  structures  found  in  Mexico.  They  con- 
sist of  a  compact  mass  of  rooms  that  may  be  entered 
only  from  the  top.  They  were  entered  by  ladders  and 
the  ladders  were  drawn  in  after  the  people,  so  these 


REED  TENTS  OP  AFRICAN  TRIBES 

dwelling's  offered  considerable  security  to  their  occu- 
pants. These  buildings  were  made  of  stone  carefully 
laid  and  the  crevices  filled  with  clay  and  mud.  They 
are  both  rectangular  and  circular  in  form.  They  con- 
tained from  two  to  six  stories  with  seventy  or  more 
rooms  or  cells  on  each  story.  Some  of  the  rooms  com- 
municated with  each  other  by  trap  doors,  and  some 
of  them  had  openings  in  the  side  walls  admitting  light 
and  air. 


8 


Description 
of  Pueblos 


Communal 
Life 


Mr.  Lee  Ghilde  gives  a  description  of  a  modern  In- 
dian pueblo  which  he  visited  in  1881.  "Before  us," 
he  says,  "on  the  right  are  two  rows  of  these  adobe 
habitations,  low,  with  no  openings  outward,  no  doors, 
no  staircases.  The  flat  terraced  roofs  are  reached  by 
a  movable  outside  ladder.  All  the  windows  and  doors 


LOG  H( 


OF  RUSSIAN  PEASANTS 


open  into  an  inside  court  which  can  only  be  reached 
by  going  down  another  ladder.  Each  house  is  thus 
a  little  fort  into  which,  the  ladder  once  withdrawn, 
neither  man  nor  beast  can  penetrate." 

The  general  arrangement  of  the  cells  in  these  habi- 
tations indicates  that  the  inhabitants  had  a  communal 
rather  than  a  family  life.  Travelers  speak  of  the  morn- 
ing chant  and  the  proclamation  made  at  dawn  by  the 
chief.  The  chant  is  supposed  to  be  an  act  of  wor- 


Ef'OLUTION  OF  THE  HOUSE 


'•  $  - 
/»7         /"AV 

'*<**/'<  -z  *.  -  n 
••'•<  ^JS^ 
*$**r~ 


PRIMITIVE  LOG  HOUSE  OF  THE  ARYANS 
Shows  chimney  which  seems  to  have  been  lost  for  some  years 


10 


THE  HOUSE 


PUEBLO  OF  TAGS,  NEW  MEXICO 

ship,  and  the  proclamation  the  assignment  of  the  day's 
tasks  of  the  different  families  living  in  the  pueblo. 

The  second  form  of  habitation  which  in  general 
character  much  resembles  the  pueblo  are  the  cliff 
dwellings.  The  cliff  hous- 
es were  built  of  rock  or 
cliffs  and  were  often 
reached  with  great  diffi- 
cult},'. Their  shape  and 
size  depended  largely  up- 
on the  form  of  the  cliff. 
The  walls  are  of  stone  ce- 
mented with  clay,  and 
they  show  much  skill  in 
construction. 

While  these  later  forms 
show  much  architectural 
skill  and  knowledge  of 
the  management  of  mate-  House  In  a  Rock 

rials,  they  would  seem  very  unsatisfactory  dwellings  to 
the  modern  man.     The  absence  of  light  and  heat,  the 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HOUSE 


ii 


stone  floors  and  bare  walls,  with  no  provision  for 
sanitation  do  not  accord  with  the  idea  of  what  a  mod- 
ern house  should  offer. 

Besides  these  typical  American  forms  of  dwellings, 
we  will  consider  four  others,  viz. — The  Swiss,  Grecian, 
Roman    and    Japanese 
dwellings. 

The  lake  dwellings 
of  Switzerland  are  old- 
er than  the  pyramids 
of  Egypt.  They  were 
built  in  the  still  waters 
of  lakes,  but  far 
enough  from  the  shore 
to  be  safe  from  dis- 
turbance. As  life  be- 
came safer,  the  lake 
dwellers  came  back  to 
the  land. 

In  the  primitive 
dwellings  which  we 
h  ave  considered  the 
one  requirement  which  they  have  all  met  has  been 
that  of  protection  or  defense.  As  civilization  ad- 
vanced and  man  learned  the  use  of  tools,  domesti- 
cated animals,  learned  the  arts  of  weaving  and  of 
working  in  wood  and  metal,  his  dwelling  came  to 
mean  something  more  than  a  place  of  shelter.  More- 
over, the  character  of  the  country,  the  climate,  the 


Rio  Mancas.  Two-Storied  Cliff  House 
and  Enlarged  Plan  of  Rooms 


12 


THE  HOUSE 


Greek 
Houses 


kind  of  building  material  at  hand,  all  had  a  part  in 
determining  the  kind  of  dwelling  that  was  built  in 
any  locality. 

Among  the  Greeks  the  energies  of  the  people  seem 
to  have  been  given  to  the  making  of  temples  rather 


LAKE  DWELLINGS  OF  SWITZERLAND 

than  private  dwellings.  Judging  from  the  indications 
home  and  family  life  as  we  understand  it  were  almost 
unknown  to  the  ancient  Greek.  The  dwellings  were 
within  walled  cities ;  of  one  story  with  stone  floors. 
The  absence  of  any  provision  for  family  life  is  very 


PUEBLO  OF  TAOS.     (After  a  Photograpft.i 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HOUSE  13 

evident.  The  two  principal  divisions  are  the  courts 
for  men  and  women.  The  seclusion  and  separation 
of  the  women  is  shown  in  the  general  plan.  It  is  said 
that  the  Greek  woman  of  the  wealthy  class  was  not 
expected  to  leave  her  home  more  than  about  once  a 
year ;  that  she  never  appeared  at  dinner  with  her 
husband  if  a  guest  were  present. 

We  see  in  the  plan  given  the  combination  of  the  shop 
or  small  store  with  the  dwelling.  The  entrance  is 
guarded  by  the  porter.  The  vestibule  leads  into  the 
men's  court  about  which  are  the  bedrooms  for  the  men. 
The  anteroom  separates  the  women's  part  from  the 
men's,  and  about  the  women's  court  are  various  rooms 
in  which  the  house  work  is  done.  There  seems  to  have 
been  no  general  room  for  both  men  and  women.  The 
house  was  sometimes  two  stories.  In  that  case  the 
women's  apartments  were  in  the  second  story. 

We  are  indebted  to  the  ruins  of  Pompeii  for  the  B0man 
knowledge  we  have  of  Roman  houses.  These  houses  Houses 
were  derived  from  the  Greek  house  with  its  two 
courts.  The  plan  shown  is  evidently  the  house  of  a 
wealthy  man.  We  see  here  the  combination  of  the 
shop  and  small  house  with  the  larger  house.  There 
is  the  family  court  and  the  public  court.  One  has 
said  that  the  Greek  house  was  made  for  the  use  of 
men  and  women,  the  Roman  house  for  public  and 
private  life.  The  house  occupied  a  block.  The  out- 
side was  rented  to  tenants  and  used  either  as  shop  or 


THE  HOUSE 


GREEK  HOUSE 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HOUSE 


ROM  AX  HOUSE 


i6 


THE  HOUSE 


Japanese 
Houses 


house  while  the  family  dwelling  centered  about  the 
inner  court.  The  walls  were  of  wood  finished  with 
plaster;  the  floors  of  stone.  There  were  no  windows, 
but  there  was  a  good  water  supply  and  drainage.  The 
house  was  heated  by  braziers  containing  charcoal,  and 
lighted  by  wicks  in  oil.  The  Roman  loved  display 


EXTERIOR  OF  A  JAPANESE  HOUSE 


and  publicity  and  much  of  his  time  was  spent  in  the 
forum  or.  the  theater.  The  Roman  woman  enjoyed 
greater  freedom  than  the  Greek. 

The  Japanese  house  is  built  of  wood  with  tile  roof 
and  no  cellar;  its  walls  are  made  of  sliding  shutters 
so  that  it  is  possible  to  make  doors  anywhere.  The 
size  of  the  rooms  is  decided  by  the  number  of  mats. 
These  mats  are  made  of  straw,  size  3  x  6  ft.  There 
are  no  bedrooms  needed  in  a  Japanese  house  because 
any  of  the  rooms  can  be  transformed  into  a  bedroom 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HOUSE  17 

by  putting  thick  comforters  on  the  mats.  This  practice 
is  much  more  cleanly  than  it  sounds  to  an  American  be- 
cause the  Japanese  houses  are  kept  exceedingly  clean 


FLOOR  PLAN  OF  A  JAPANESE  HOUSE 


THE  HOUSE 


Swiss 
Houses 


and  the  shoes  are  removed  on  entering  the  house,  so 
the  dust  of  the  street  is  not  carried  in. 

The  rooms  are  used  for  different  purposes.  No 
chairs  are  used  and  no  dining  room  tables.  Charcoal 
is  used  for  cooking.  It  is  said  that  the  kitchen  utensils- 

are  kept  under  the  floor. 
The  wooden  verandah  is 
also  inclosed  by  shutters. 

The  Swiss  houses  are 
made  almost  entirely  of 
wood.  The  lower  story  is 
of  masonry  and  the  base- 
ment is  sometimes  used  for 
stores  and  for  the  domestic 
animals.  Timbers  of  the 
lower  story  project,  form- 
ing corbel  windows. 

To  summarize  this  sec- 
tion :  We  see  that  through 
the  centuries  there  has 
been  a  progressive  series  of 
changes  in  human  habita- 
tions. From  the  shelter 
afforded  by  a  tree,  the  tent, 
the  cave,  and  the  log  cabin 
of  one  room,  the  courts  of  the  Greek  and  Roman 
houses,  or  the  great  hall  of  the  castle,  to  the  modern 
house  of  today  is  a  long  journey,  marked  at  various 
times  by  the  introduction  of  those  elements  which 


Swiss  House.  Basement  used  for 

Cattle;  Upper  Stones  for 

the  Family 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HOUSE 


SWISS  HOUSE,  SECOND  FLOOR  PL.AN 

enter  into  the  modern  house.  The  thatched  and  stone 
roofs  have  been  replaced  by  slate  and  wood.  Here 
the  window  has  been  introduced ;  there  the  chimney. 
The  ladder  has  been  replaced  by  a  beautiful  staircase. 
Provision  has  been  made  for  heat  and  light.  The  ar- 
tist and  architect  have  combined  to  make  the  modern 
house  not  only  the  place  of  shelter  but  the  place  of 
beauty  as  well. 


Civilization 

and 

Architecture 


Conditions 

Influencing 

American 

Architecture 


In  the  previous  section  some  steps  in  the  evolution 
of  the  house  have  been  briefly  outlined.  It  is  evident 
that  social  conditions  and  climate  influence  the  charac- 
ter of  the  buildings  of  a  country  or  nation.  So  we 
have  what  are  called  the  characteristic  buildings  of  dif- 
ferent nations.  For  example:  Egypt  is  noted  for  its 
temples  and  towers ;  Assyria  for  its  palaces ;  Greece  for 
its  temples ;  Rome,  for  its  bridges  and  aqueducts ; 
mediaeval  Europe  for  castles  and  churches ;  the  Low 
Countries,  for  their  trade  halls ;  England,  for  its  coun- 
try houses,  and  the  United  States,  for  its  fine  office 
and  municipal  buildings.  So  we  realize  the  truth  of 
the  statement  that  much  of  the  civilization  of  a  coun- 
try can  be  read  in  its  architecture. 

It  may  be  well  to  consider  how  social  conditions-  and 
tradition  have  influenced  American  architecture.  In 
a  new  country  there  is  less  of  conventionality,  greater 
freedom  of  action,  more  originality  in  the  manner  of 
conducting  affairs,  often  less  wealth  and  fewer  class 
distinctions  than  in  an  old  and  well  established  com- 
munity. Judged  by  the  standards  of  the  old  world 
America  is  a  very  new  country.  When  its  resources 
were  undeveloped  and  its  people  had  little  wealth  its 
life  and  its  houses  were  very  simple,  limited  for  the 
most  part  to  the  necessities,  but  as  the  development 
progressed,  life  became  more  complex,  more  influenced 

by  the  traditions  of  these  lands  whose  descendants  had 

20 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HOUSE     21 


LOG  CABIN  IN  WHICH  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  WAS  BORN 

Typical  of  the  Houses  of  the  Early  Settlers.    Chimney  on  the  End 

Partly  Demolished 

settled  in  America.  Moreover,  America  has  always 
been  a  land  for  the  people — not  for  any  one  class,  but 
for  all  the  people.  Its  architecture  shows  some  of  these 
same  characteristics.  It  is  original,  varied,  irregular, 
with  a  strong  individuality.  Again,  the  Americans  are 
a  comfort-loving  people,  so  they  demand  comfort  and 
convenience  in  a  building,  whether  it  be  house  or  shop. 
The  marble  halls  and  stately  palaces  of  the  old  world, 
beautiful  though  they  be  on  the  exterior,  do  not  ap- 
peal to  the  American  because  they  are  damp  and  cold ; 
the  same  is  true  of  many  of  the  European  dwelling 
houses. 


22 


THE  HOUSE 


Early  House 

Lacking 

in  Beauty 


The  artistic  sense  of  the  people  has  not  been  de- 
veloped by  association  with  the  art  treasures  and  splen- 
did buildings  which  are  so  numerous  in  the  old  world, 
so  for  many  years  American  architecture  was  sadly 
lacking  in  beauty.  It  was  natural  that  builders  should 
follow  the  forms  of  construction  which  were  used 
abroad.  It  was  soon  found,  however,  that  many  of 
those  forms  were  unsuited  to  the  life  and  customs 
which  prevail  in  this  country.  A  castle,  for  instance, 
is  not  adapted  to  the  free  and  simple  life  of  America. 
The  English  country  house  or  manor  is  not  suited  to 


FAIRBANKS  HOUSE  AT  DEDHAM,  MASS.,  BUILT  IN  1(536 
From  "  Hnmes  in  City  and  Country  ' 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  Publishers 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HOUSE     23 


Built  about  1650.    Second  Story  Overhangs  Front  and  Sides 

From  '  Early  Connecticut  Houses  ' 
Preston  and  Rounds  Co.,  Publishers 

country  life  in  America.  Nor  do  Americans  wish  the 
first  story  of  their  city  houses  to  be  given  up  to  sta- 
bles and  shops  as  they  are  in  Paris.  So  the  newer 
and  better  architecture  of  America  is  formed  by  tak- 
ing the  elements  of  proportion,  symmetry,  and  beauty 
as  found  in  the  old  world  structures  and  using  them 
in  the  construction  of  buildings  which  are  suited  to 
the  needs  of  Americans. 


Log 
Cabins 


24  THE  HOUSE 

DOMESTIC    ARCHITECTURE    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES 

As  we  know,  the  log  cabin  was  the  earliest  home  of 
the  colonists.  The  construction  of  the  early  houses  was 
much  the  same  though  they  differed  in  the  number  of 
rooms  which  they  contained. 


Built  about  1660.    Shows  Front  Overhanging  and  Long  Sloping  Roof 

From  "  Early  Connecticut  Houses  " 

The  logs  were  dressed  on  two  sides  and  placed 
one  on  top  of  the  other  until  the  structure  was  high 
enough  for  a  tall  person  to  walk  about  in  it.  The 
crevices  between  the  logs  were  filled  with  mud.  The 
roof  was  made  of  poles  covered  with  straw  or  reeds. 
Fireplaces  at  first  were  made  of  sticks,  and  plastered 
on  the  inside  with  clay,  but  later  of  stones  or  brick 
laid  in  mortar. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HOUSE     25 

Domestic  architecture  developed  rapidly.  At 
first  the  construction  was  changed  only  by  the 
addition  of  clap-boards  to  the  log  walls  and  hand- 
made shingles  for  the  roof.  The  following  descrip- 
tion is  given  by  Air.  Plym,  of  a  house  of  the  period 


V 


t685. 


Has  an  Entrance  Porch,  the  Sloping  Roof  Covering  the  "Lean-to" 
Retained 

From  "Early  Connecticut  Houses' 

known  as  "Old  Colonial  :" 

"Tliis  was  probably  the  most  common  type,  having 
eight  rooms  and  a  front  central  stair  hall.  The  fire- 
places were  symmetrically  located  on  the  inner  walls, 
while  the  exterior  was  decorated  with  a  small  portico. 
The  second  story  was  usually  constructed  of  heavy 
log  timbers  placed  at  regular  intevals1,  which  served 
as  a  ceiling  for  the  rooms  below.  The  outside  walls 
were  often  packed  with  mud  or  sea  weed  to  add  to 
their  warmth  in  winter  and  coolness  in  summer.  Ice 


"Old  Colonial" 
House 


THE  HOUSE 


Types 


Built  about  1715.    A  Two-Story  House  with  Dormer  Windows. 
North  End  of  Brick 

From  "Early  Connecticut  Houses" 

was  kept  in  the  cellar  and  was  reached  through  a  trap- 
door in  the  floor*  About  1630  hand-cut  wood  shingles 
came  into  use  for  roofs,  and  brick  and  other  materials 
were  brought  from  Europe.  The  several  colonies, 
English,  Dutch  and  Swedish,  began  to  show  individ- 
uality in  their  designs,  which  was  suggestive  of  their 
native  buildings.  The  Dutch  houses  were  especially 
distinctive  on  account  of  the  gambrel  roofs  with  heavy 
over-shot  eaves  and  practically  no  cornice  on  the  ga- 
bles. They  often  constructed  their  houses  of  stone 
and  barred  their  windows  with  solid  panel  shutters." 
Two  quite  distinct  types  of  colonial  houses  are 
found  in  the  earlier  houses,  both  founded  on  English 
models : 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HOUSE     27 

1.  The  Puritan  or  New  England. 

2.  Those  houses  which  were  built  on  the  large  estates 

in  Virginia. 

Climate  and  s-ocial  customs  have  left  their  impress 
on  each.  The  early  Puritan  "on  that  rock-bound 
coast"  found  life  a  rather  serious  business,  and  his 
architecture  has  something  of  severity  in  it.  The 
houses  are  built  comfortably  of  three  stories,  with 
very  plain  exteriors. 

The  Virginia  homes  of  the  eighteenth  century  offer 
quite  a  contrast  to  this.  In  the  "sunny  south"  the 
climate  was  pleasant,  the  soil  productive.  There  were 
plenty  of  slaves  to  do  the  work ;  the  owner  of  the 
estate  was  socially  inclined ;  circumstances  favored  a 
luxurious  mode  of  life,  so  the  house  needed  to  be 
large  to  accommodate  the  family,  guests,  and  slaves-, 


BteeSsfey^-iSi^ ^&^^1  *3r  ^±i'. .— '•*£-%£: .'•*¥:' 


New  England 
Old   Colonial 


Specimen  of  Early  Dutch  Architecture.  Long  Island,  N.  Y. 

From  "  Homos  in  City  and  Country  " 


28 


THE  HOUSE 


Plan  of 

Southern 

Old  Colonial 

Houses 


and  to  maintain  the  generous  hospitality  for  which 
the  region  is  famed.  Monticello  is  one  of  the  most 
typical  of  these  estates.  It  is  said  that  Jefferson 
ruined  himself  by  his  hospitality. 

The  houses  consisted  frequently  of  a  central  two- 
story   portion    with   two   wings.        The    wings    were 


Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  Shore  House,  with  Gambrel  Roof  and  "L" 

From  ••  Homes  in  City  and  Country  " 

sometimes  used  for  guests,  sometimes  for  domestic 
servants.  The  use  of  brick  when  wood  was  so  much 
easier  to  obtain  showed  how  the  colonist  clung  to  his 
English  models.  The  fact  also  that  they  were  slow 
in  introducing  the  veranda  so  much  needed  for  pro- 
tection against  the  heat  of  an  American  summer  is 
due  to  the  same  slowness  to  give  up  old  ideals.  The 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HOUSE     29 


importance  of  the  hall  in  the  early  colonial  house 
must  not  be  overlooked.  It  was  living  room,  dining 
room  and  frequently  guest  room,  in  fact  all  the  house 
except  kitchen  and  bedroom.  The  common  life  of 
the  family  centered  about  this  room,  and  to  it  the 
family  treasures  in  the  way  of  good  furniture  were 
brought. 

The  colonial  builder  was  limited  both  in  materials 
and  skilled  workers.  He  had  plaster,  wood,  and  paper, 
but  good  plasterers1  were  scarce ;  carpenters  were  the 
best  craftsmen  of  the  times,  so  the  wood  work  of  the 
colonial  builder  remains  his  chief  title  to  recognition. 
It  is  said  that  much  of  the  best  interior  work  in  the 
coast  towns  was  done  by  ship  carpenters  who  had  left 


r 


Limitation 
of  Colonial 
Builders 


STRATFORD  HOUSE,  WESTMORELAND  COUNTY,  VA. 

The  Birthplace  of  General  Lee,  built  in  the  18th  Century,  of  Bricks  sent 

over  from  England 


i^v---3 


IS  PD  f 


THE  HOUSE. 


Influence 

of  the 

Carpenter 


Careful 
Detail 


their  ships  for  a  season.  Desmond  and  Croly  say: 
"Colonial  architecture  has  well  been  defined  as  'the 
carpenters'  interpretation  of  the  Renaissance.'  In  no 
other  country  was  the  carpenter  permitted  a  rendering 
of  the  great  classic  revival. 

"The  predominance  of  the  carpenter  rather  than  the 
mason,  arising  immediately  from  the  great  variety 
and  abundance  of  native  American  woods,  is  from  the 
start  one  of  the  most  important  facts  connected  with 
American  architecture  and  to  the  present  day  it  has 
not  lost  its  importance.  In  structure  and  ornament 
the  American  house  has  been  made  largely — too  largely 
— of  wood.  In  colonial  times,  while  a  good  tradition 
prevailed,  the  use  made  of  the  material  was  acceptable ; 
but  later  when  the  craftsmen  had  deteriorated,  the  ex- 
cessive importance  granted  to  a  building  material  that 
is  flexible,  cheap,  and  tempts  the  unwary  into  multi- 
plying members  and  elaborating  detail,  was  partly  re- 
sponsible for  some  of  the  most  grotesque  wooden  mal- 
formations which  the  world  has  ever  seen.  More- 
over, our  wood  work,  founded  as  it  was  upon  forms 
that  pertained  properly  to  the  masons'  materials,  has 
always  betrayed  a  leaning  toward  a  decadent  principle, 
which  has  not  been  without  a  generally  corrupting 
effect  upon  American  practice."* 

The  Colonial  architecture  was  characterized  bv  care- 
fulness in  detail,  by  a  considerable  use  of  moldings  as 

*" Stately  Homes  in  America." 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HOUSE     35 

a  finish  for  doors,  windows,  chimneys,  and  paneling. 
The  staircases  with  their  newel  posts  and  baluster  gave 
an  opportunity  for  much  fine  work,  the  carving  of 
which  often  showed  much  delicacy  and  skill.  The 
paneling  and  the  fireplace  were  sometimes  the  best 
features  of  the  work.  Desmond  and  Croly  sav :  "The 


MT.  VERNON,  THE  HOME  OF  WASHINGTON 
Southern  Colonial  House 

detail  was  most  carefully  and  elaborately  worked. 
Often  it  is  somewhat  stiff  and  lifeless ;  but  it  is  always 
moderate  and  correct ;  and  occasionally  it  is  of  an 
exquisite  and  delicate  simplicity.  The  Colonial  is  the 
one  type  of  building  in  our  architectural  history  which 
bears  the  mark  of  a  definite  style.  It  is  strongly  dis- 
tinguished from  every  subsequent  style  of  residence, 


36  THE  HOUSE 

because  it  was  used  in  the  colonies  for  something1 
over  a  century ;  and  because  throughout  all  that  time  it 
prevailed  absolutely.  The  owners  of  these  Colonial 
houses  were  nothing  more  than  ordinarily  well-to-do 
men  who  had  enough  money  to  live  in  a  pleasant  and 
substantial  generous  manner,  but  who  very  distinctly  could  not 
Economical  afford  any  considerable  extravagances ;  consequently, 
while  they  built  substantially  they  were  also  obliged  to 
build  economically.  One  of  these  old  brick  houses 
frequently  took  many  years  to  erect,  and  required  on 
the  part  of  the  owner  and  builder  the  utmost  patience 
and  the  utmost  ingenuity  in  overcoming  obstacles. 
They  did  not  have  the  benefit  of  expert  assistance ; 
there  were  practically  no  professional  architects  in  the 
colonies  until  the  very  end  of  the  colonial  period ;  and 
they  were  engaged  almost  exclusively  in  the  design  of 
public  buildings.  The  only  assistance  upon  which  a 
man  who  wanted  to  build  could  rely  was  that  of 
trained  mechanics,  who  were  frequently  imported  for 
the  purpose,  and  who  naturally  built  according  to  rule. 
That  under  so  many  disadvantages  the  result  was  often 
so  admirable,  is  most  excellent  testimony  to  the  train- 
ing of  the  eighteenth  century  hand  craftsmen.  They 
had  been  educated  in  a  good  school :  they  knew  how  to 
do  certain  things  only,  but  everything  they  did  was 
well  done;  and  if  their  tradition  and  method  of  work 
had  only  survived  for  two  or  three  generations,  we 
Americans  would  have  been  spared  a  caution  of  ugli- 


r?    t/j 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HOUSE     39 

ness — particularly      in      wood-work — which      persists 
among  American  carpenters  to  the  present  day." 

While  there  is  so  much  that  is  favorable  to  be  said 
concerning  the  "old  Colonial"  style  it  is  but  fair  that 


THE  "OLD  MANSE."  CONCORD,  MASS. 
Home  of  Hawthorne  and  Emerson 

we  should  consider  the  unfavorable  statements  also 
and  Desmond  and  Croly  close  the  chapter  on  "The 
Colonial  residence"  thus :  "At  the  time  the  colonial 
style  prevailed  it  was  admirable  because  it  was  safe; 
but  in  view  of  the  immensely  richer  materials  and 
larger  opportunities  which  architects1  of  the  present 
time  have  at  their  disposal,  they  cannot  afford  to  ac- 


Deflciencies 
of  the  Old 
Colonial  Style 


THE  HOUSE 


Lacking 

in  Breadth 

of  Style 


Transitional 
Period 


cept  the  colonial  tradition  too  seriously.  Both  as  re- 
gards outside  and  in,  the  excellence  of  the  colonial 
dwellings  depended  on  their  decorous  and  unobtru- 
sive character.  They  aimed  studiously  at  under-state- 
ment.  Their  owners  were  people  of  taste,  in  whom  the 
ideal  of  respectability  was  still  fortunately  allied  with 
some  notion  of  good  form,  and  who  would  not  for  the 
world  do  anything  to  .violate  the  prevalent  proprieties. 
But  it  lacked  structural  and  functional  character;  its 
range  of  expression  was  extremely  limited.  It  is  as- 
sociated somehow  with  a  tea  table  respectability,  an 
old  maidenly  reserve  and  propriety ;  it  is  quaint  and 
stiff  and  charming,  but  it  lacks  the  richer  tones,  the 
deeper  harmonies,  the  grander  style  of  some  French 
and  Italian  models.  It  remains,  nevertheless,  one  of 
the  best  sources  from  which  to  derive  the  forms  of  a 
modest  and  inexpensive  modern  dwelling,  for  its  de- 
signs are  simple,  its  material  cheap,  and  the  character 
of  its  expression  adapted  to  the  houses  of  quiet  people 
of  good  taste  without  much  originality."* 

\\"hat  might  be  called  the  decadence  of  the  colonial 
style  of  architecture,  or  the  transitional  period,  began 
in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  White 
House  is  among  the  last  and  best  known  examples  of 
pure  Colonial.  The  times  were  revolutionary  in  more 
senses  than  one.  New  social  and  economic  forces  were 
at  work.  The  people  were  trying  experiments  in  gov-~ 
ernment  and  business.  The  condition  of  the  country 

•"Stately  Homes  in   America." 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HOUSE     41 

was  unsettled.  Houses,  especially  on  the  borderlands, 
were  temporary  structures.  The  standard  of  handi- 
craft was  lowered.  It  seemed  necessary  to  build 
quickly  rather  than  well. 

After  1825  domestic  architecture  ceased  to  be  colo- 
nial.   The  use  of  classic  forms  was-  revived  and  led  to 


CRAIGIE  HOUSE.  CAMBRIDGE,  MASS. 

Headquarters  of  Washington  and  Home  of  Longfellow.    An  Example 
of  New  England  Colonial  House 

the  making  of  wooden  parthenons  for  public  buildings 
and  for  a  dwelling  house  a  Doric  or  Ionic  temple. 
The  rapidity  with  which  one  kind  of  architecture  fol- 
lowed another  was  remarkable.  The  classic  forms  were 


Monstrosities 


THE  HOUSE 


THE  WHITE  HOUSE,  SOUTH  FRONT 

succeeded  by  the  use  of  French  and  Italian  models. 
The  stately  mansion  in  the  Greek  was  followed  by  the 
picturesque  villa.  Many  of  these  dwellings  were  built 
along  the  Hudson  about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  This  century  marks  the  development  of  the 
city  house.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  indiscriminate 
imitation  of  Old  World  forms.  The  French  villas 
were  succeeded  by  Italian  ones.  The  Gothic  was  intro- 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HOUSE     43 

duced  in  ecclesiastical  buildings,  such  as  Trinity  and 
St.  George's  churches  in  New  York  City,  about  1850. 
The  Romanesque  revival  began  in  1877  with  the  com- 
pletion of  Trinity  church  in  Boston  and  deserves  men- 
tion because  it  is  associated  with  the  name  of  Richard- 
son, one  of  America's  best  architects. 

Now  we  have  the  country  house,  the  city  residence, 
and  the  suburban  dwelling,  each  with  its  characteristics 


NORTH  FRONT  OF  THE  WHITE  HOUSE 


44  THE  HOUSE. 

strongly  marked.  Various  localities  have  also  their 
distinctive  types.  Root  says :  "In  the  growth  of  their 
plans  Western  city  houses  have  tended  also  toward 
greater  enlargement  and  importance  of  the  living  and 
dining  rooms  at  the  expense  of  the  parlor  and  reception 
rooms."* 
western  One  feature  in  the  plans  of  Western  city  dwellings 

City  Houses  _,..,. 

must  be  clearly  denned.  Ihis  is  their  openness.  Aot 
only  are  windows  upon  the  average  larger  than  in  the 
East,  but  they  are  more  frequent. 

Price  says :  "The  ordinary  older  cottages,  those  of  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago,  were  generally  planned  with 
a  single  entrance  facing  the  approach ;  this  opened 
from  a  porch  into  a  passage  rather  than  a  hall,  with 
the  stairway  starting  a  few  paces  within  and  running 
straight  up  the  side  wall  to  the  floor  above ;  the  parlor 
and  library  to  right  and  left,  with  the  dining  room 
beyond  the  one  and  the  kitchen  beyond  the  other.  Be- 
tween the  last  two  came  the  butlery  and  servants'  stairs 
and  the  back  door,  which  usually  in  the  family  life  of 
the  occupants  became  the  thoroughfare  to  and  from 
the  house.  This,  pure  and  simple,  was  the  general 
plan  from  which  the  house  of  to-day  started.  Step  by 
step  it  developed ;  the  passage  became  a  hall ;  the  stair- 
case changed  its  position ;  the  parlor  became  less  im- 
portant, the  fireplace  more  so."* 

So  much,  or  rather  so  little,  out  of  all  that  might 
be  said  for  the  evolution  of  the  house  in  the  United 


"'Homes  in  City  and  Country." 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HOUSE     47 

States.      Let   us   next   consider    certain    essentials    in 
planning  for  one  of  these  modern  houses. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

A  further  knowledge  of  the  "Evolution  of  the  House"  and 
the  ''Development  of  the  American  House"  may  be  obtained 
by  reference  to  the  following : 

The  Habitations  of  Man  in  All  Ages.    Viollet  LeDuc. 
L'Habitation  Humane.     Gamier  and  Amman. 
Prehistoric  America.     Nadaillac. 


American  Renaissance  ($4.00).    Joy  Wheeler  Dow. 
Early  Connecticut  Houses   ($4.00).     Isham  and  Brown. 
Homes   in   City   and   Country    ($2.00).      Sturgis,   Root,    Price, 

Mitchell,  Parsons  and  Linn. 
Stately  Homes  in  America  ($7.50).     Desmond  and  Croly. 

Note. — Any   of   the   above   books   will   be   purchased    and    forwarded   on 
receipt  of  the  price  given. 


TEST  QUESTIONS 

The  following  questions  constitute  the  "written  reci- 
tation" which  the  regular  members  of  the  A.  S.  H.  E. 
answer  in  writing  and  send  in  for  the  correction  and 
comment  of  the  instructor.  They  are  intended  to 
emphasize  and  fix  in  the  memory  the  most  important 
points  in  the  lesson. 


THE   HOUSE 

Its  Plan,  Decoration  and  Care 


PART    I 


Read  Carefully.  Place  your  name  and  address  on  the 
first  sheet  of  the  test.  Use  a  light  grade  of  paper  and  write 
on  one  side  of  the  sheet  only.  Do  not  copy  answers  from 
the  lesson  paper.  Use  your  own  words,  so  that  your  in- 
structor may  know  that  you  understand  the  subject.  Read 
the  lesson  paper  a  number  of  times  before  attempting  to 
answer  the  questions. 


1.  What  interest  or  value  has  the  "evolution  of  the 

house"  for  you? 

2.  Name  some  of  the  types  of  early  human  habita- 

tions. What  purposes  are  they  supposed  to 
have  served? 

3.  Show  how  the  environment  influences  the  char- 

acter of  the  dwelling  place. 

4.  Explain  the  statement — The  history  of  a  nation 

may  be  read  in  its  architecture. 

5.  What  do  you  learn  from  a  study  of  the  Greek 

and  Roman  houses  about  their  family  life? 

6.  Mention  some  advantages  of  Japanese  houses. 

7.  What  conditions  and  influences  affected  the  de- 

velopment of  the  American  house?  How  did 
the  Northern  houses  differ  from  those  in  the 
South  ? 


THE  HOUSE. 

8.  Trace  briefly  the  development  of  the  house  from 

the  log"  cabin  to  the  houses  of  our  grand- 
parents. 

9.  What  good  points  had  the   so-called   Colonial 

houses?    In  what  were  they  lacking? 

10.  Describe  some  house  in  your  neighborhood  that 

exemplifies  the  deficiencies  of  the  transitional 
period  of  American  architecture. 

NOTE. — After  completing  the  test  sign  your  full  name. 


7 


^*j^ 

[he  beauty  of 
kthe  house  is 
•&the  Mess- 
ing of  the  house  is 
contentments  the 
glory  of  the  house 
is  hospitality&the 
crown  of  the  house 
is  godliness ^^&3 


a 

o 

H 
P 

0  i 

8  s 

fc     S 

<    •< 

B    1 


CJ  1 

K  t 

W  x 

Q  I" 

iJ 
C 


THE  HOUSE 

Its  Plan,  Decoration  and  Care 

PART  II 

THE  MODERN  HOUSE 

While  the  subject  is  "The  House/'  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  separate  it  in  thought  from  the  home  for 
which  it  stands.  We  all  appreciate  that  the  house  is 
not  the  home,  as  the  body  is  not  the  spirit,  but  as  the 
body  serves  as  the  means  of  expression  for  the  spirit, 
so  in  the  houses  we  build  and  furnish  we  show  our 
appreciation  of  beauty  or  the  lack  of  it.  We  give, 
quite  unconsciously  perhaps,  our  definition  of  home. 

All  this  thought  and  care  then  is  to  be  expended      The  House 
upon  the  house,  not  only  that  it  may  be  a  comfortable      ite  Home 
and   convenient   workshop   for  home   industries,     but 
also  a  place  in  which  child  life  may  develop  among 
artistic  and  beautiful  surroundings,  and  that  it  shall 
at  the  same  time  serve  as  a  place  of  rest  and  inspira- 
tion for  the  older  members  of  the  family. 

There  should,  then,  be  a  very  definite  idea  in  the 
mind  of  the  owner  of  the  amount  of  money  he  wishes 
to  expend  and  the  kind  of  family  life  he  wishes  to 
maintain  in  this  house.  It  is  to  be  built  for  his  family, 
not  his  neighbors.  The  real  comfort  and  convenience 
of  the  family  are  not  to  be  sacrificed  to  display  for  the 
chance  guest.  Comfort  may  demand  that  the  expense 

49 


5o  THE  HOUSE 

of  the  parlor  mantel  be  put  into  the  kitchen  sink.  Es- 
sentials, not  fancy  work,  are  to  be  considered. 
The  sue  The  selection  of  a  suitable  site  is  one  of  the  first 
considerations.  To  be  sure  it  is  quite  probable  that  to 
the  vast  majority  of  home  makers  the  opportunity  for 
choice  in  the  details  of  location  and  construction  may 
not  be  given ;  but  this  paper  is  written  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  freedom  of  choice  in  the  belief  that  it  is 
better  to  strive  for  ideal  conditions  than  to  omit  them 
from  life's1  program. 

Where  then  shall  the  new  house  be  put?  On  the 
hill  or  in  the  valley?  In  the  city  or  in  the  country? 
The  answer  to  these  questions  will  vary  according  to 
the  tastes  of  the  different  owners,  but  in  each  case  cer- 
tain questions  should  be  very  carefully  considered  in 
choosing  the  location  of  the  house.  The  character  of 
the  soil ;  the  natural  slope  of  the  land ;  the  direction  of 
the  prevailing  winds ;  the  possibilities  of  drainage ;  the 
character  of  the  surroundings ;  the  kind  of  neighbors 
one  is  likely  to  have. 

In  most  regions  a  southern  or  eastern  exposure  al- 
lows the  best  distribution  of  sunlight  in  the  house. 
There  may  be  the  temptation  in  the  crowded  city  to  use 
the  "made  ground"  before  nature's  agencies  has  had 
time  to  make  it  fit  for  human  habitation ;  and,  in  the 
country,  the  site  of  the  barn,  regardless  of  the  drainage 
may  determine  the  location  of  the  house  on  the  basis 
of  saving  steps  for  the  men  of  the  family. 


MODERN 

Since  so  much  of  some  people's  time  must  of  neces- 
sity be  spent  inside  the  house  some  real  thought  and 
care  ought  to  be  given  to  securing  an  outlook  that 
shall  yield  to  the  occupants  of  the  house  as  much  of 
the  beauty  of  the  earth  and  air  and  sky  as  possible. 
A  slight  change  in  the  position  of  even  one  window 
may  bring  to  the  dwellers  for  all  time  a  picture  of  hill 
,-*-  and  dale  with  forest  and  stream  that  shall  be  a  peren- 
_^  nial  source  of  pleasure. 

Due   consideration   having  been   given   to   securing 

pure  air,  sunlight,  dryness,  and  the  various  elements 

included   in   the   term    "agreeable   surroundings,"   the 

form  of  construction  and  kind  of  materials  are  to  be 

^considered. 

Shall  the  new  house  be  of  wood,  brick,  or  stone? 
..  Queen  Ann,  Gothic,  or  Old  Colonial  style?  Here 
again  much  depends  upon  individual  taste  and  the  ma- 
terials that  can  be  obtained  at  least  expense.  Stone 
houses,  for  example,  are  practically  debarred  from 
some  localities  because  of  the  expense  of  transportation 
which  must  be  added  to  the  cost  of  the  stone ;  but  in  any 
case  the  construction  must  be  adapted  to  the  location. 
A  stone  house  in  a  treeless,  stoneless,  prairie  region, 
looks  like  an  intruder  in  the  landscape.  It  needs  the 
hills  and  rocks  for  its  setting.  A  low,  rambling  house, 
if  it  crown  the  brow  of  a  hill,  lends-  itself  to  the  land- 
scape much  better  than  the  high  narrow  one  which 
gives  somewhat  the  impression  of  a  sign  board.  Again, 


The 
Outlook 


Style 
of  House 


Tbe 

Architect 


52  THE  HOUSE 

an  Old  Colonial  house  requires  space  for  its  proper 
setting.  Adaptation  and  appropriateness  are  important 
elements  in  deciding  the  materials  and  construction  or 
the  new  house. 

HOUSE  PLANNING 

We  are  now  to  consider  this  subject  in  detail.  The 
problems  of  domestic  architecture  are  complex  not 
simple.  Its  elements  are  numerous  and  varied.  Ec- 
clesiastical architecture  has  fewer  difficulties  to  con- 
tend with  than  domestic.  A  church  is  built  for  a  spe- 
cific purpose,  a  dwelling  house  stands  for  a  dozen  in- 
terests, some  of  them  apparently  conflicting.  It  must 
be  at  the  same  time  a  workshop  and  a  place  of  rest. 
In  it  provision  must  be  made  for  the  sick  and  the 
well,  the  young  and  the  old,  for  sleeping,  eating,  and 
cooking,  as  well  as  for  the  entertainment  of  guests. 

It  requires  skill  of  a  high  order  in  more  ways  than 
one  to  plan  a  successful  house.  A  house  plan  is  to  be 
regarded  as  successful  only  when  it  meets  the  require- 
ments for  comfort  and  convenience  of  the  particular 
family  for  which  it  is  intended.  It  is  evident  then 
that  house  plans  should  not  grow,  like  mushrooms,  in 
a  night  but  should  be  given  ample  time  for  develop- 
ment. 

The  architect  should  be  made  familiar  in  so  far  as 
practicable  with  the  personal  preferences  of  the  family 
in  order  that  he  may  the  better  plan  for  their  comfort. 


\ 


HOUSE  PLANNING  55 

It  is  not  for  the  architect  to  express  the  personality 
of  the  owner,  but  to  help  the  home  maker  to  do  so. 
Six  months  or  a  year  is  not  too  long  a  period  in 
which  to  consider  the  plans  for  the  new  house.  In  the 
meantime  it  is  well  for  the  family  to  collect  as  many 
concrete  examples  as  possible  of  the  things  that  seem 
to  them  desirable  in  the  new  home. 

The  sight  of  the  real  may  often  do  away  utterly  with 
an  ideal  that  had  been  cherished  for  sometime.  Hav- 
ing collected  and  considered  these  various  ideas  it  is 
well  to  formulate  some  method  of  procedure,  to  make 
some  analysis  of  house  plans,  an  outline,  if  you  please, 
of  essentials  and  non-essentials. 

However  much  house  plans  may  differ  in  details  it  Division 
is  evident  that  the  whole  space  enclosed  by  the  four  of  sPace 
walls  must  serve  at  least  two  purposes ;  one  part  of  it 
will  serve  as  a  place  to  rest,  work,  or  sleep  in ;  and  an- 
other portion  must  serve  as  a  means  of  communica- 
tion. This  fact  serves  as  a  basis  for  the  division  of 
the  entire  space  into  rooms  and  thoroughfares.  This 
first  division  is  of  great  importance.  The  comfort  and 
convenience  of  many  a  house  has  been  forever  de- 
stroyed by  the  fact  that  the  thoroughfares  were  im- 
properly located,  or  in  wrong  proportion  to  the  size 
of  the  house,  and  the  cost  of  heating  has  been  mate- 
rially increased  by  a  wrong  distribution  of  floor  space. 

We  all  know  of  houses  in  which  the  distance  from 
the  front  door  to  the  kitchen  is  so  great  that  the  time 


56  THE  HOUSE 

and  energy  used  in  answering  the  front  door  bell 
leaves  little  of  either  for  anything  else,  and  other 
houses  where  wide  drafty  halls  and  open  stairways 
take  the  heat  from  the  small  rooms  and  leave  the  occu- 
pants shivering  before  the  grate. 

The  manufacturer  constructs  his  "plant"  so  as  to 
save  time  and  labor  for  his  workmen.  Ought  not  the 
same  care  to  be  given  to  the  construction  of  his  house  ? 

The  space  and  money  expended  in  passage  ways  be- 
yond that  required  for  comfort  and  convenience  adds  to 
the  expense  in  building  and  later  in  the  care  and  fur- 
nishing without  yielding  an  adequate  equivalent.  Both 
rooms  and  thoroughfares  admit  of  classification.  The 
rooms  may  be  divided  as  those  intended  (i)  for  the 
use  of  the  family,  (2)  for  the  use  of  the  servants. 

Yet  another  division  may*  be  made  of  the  rooms. 
In  every  home  there  are  rooms  set  apart  for  family 
use,  for  the  entrance  of  the  friend  or  stranger,  and 
there  are  other  rooms  for  the  private  use  of  the  individ- 
ual members  of  the  family. 

Thorough-  The  thoroughfares,  too,  may  be  classified  as  those 
intended  for  the  family  or  for  the  servants  and  the 
family  ones  may  be  intended  for  public  or  private  use ; 
the  servants'  thoroughfares  may  be  private  or  service, 
that  is,  used  by  servants  in  performance  of  their 
duties. 

We  give,  then,  as  most  suggestive  and  helpful  the 
"analysis  of  the  house  plan"  outlined  by  Osborne  in 
his  little  book  on  house  planning: 


HOUSE  PLANNING 


57 


'  Reception  Room  (Pu.). 

Parlor  (Pu  ,  Pi  ). 

Drawing  Room  (Pu.,  Pi..) 

Library  (Pu  ,Pi.». 

Public,     -t 

Billiard  Room  (Pi.). 

Picture  Gallery  (Pu.>. 

Dining  Room  (Pi.,  S.). 

Verandas. 

'Family.    < 

.Etc. 

Study  (PI  ). 

Boudoir  (Pi.V 

Bed  Rooms  <Pi.V 

.Private.   ' 

Dressing  Rooms  (Pi.,  S.). 

Bath  Rooms  (Pi.). 

Verandas. 

ROOMS,          4 

.Etc. 

Kitchen  (S,  Sp.). 

Pantries  (S  ). 

Service.   . 

Laundries  (S.). 

Dairies  (S.) 

Servants   , 

Store  Rooms  (S.). 
.Etc. 

Servants'  Hall  (S.,  Sp.V 

The 
House  ' 

^  Private.   < 

"      Bed  Rooms  (Sp.). 
"      Bath    "       (Sp.). 
"     Verandas. 

. 

Principal  Porches. 

f  Public.     • 

Vestibule. 
Entrance  Hall. 

I 

Inner  Hall. 

'  Family.     < 

.Etc. 

THOROUGH-  . 

[private.  . 

Family  Stair  Hall. 
Family  Corridors. 
Etc. 

FARES. 

f  Sprvio  •    J  Between  Family  and  Sen 
•    1      vice  Rooms. 

Servants.  <                   ,  Bet    servants'    Rooms. 

I  Private,  i     or  Servants'  and  Ser- 

*•                   (vice  Rooms. 

NOTE. — Letters  in  brackets  indicate  the  proper  thorough- 
fares upon  which  the  room  should  be  found ;  where  two  thor- 
oughfares are  indicated  the  room  may  or  should  be  upon 
both;  Pu,  public  family;  Pi.,  private  family;  S.,  service; 
Sp.,  servants'  private  thoroughfares. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  statement  about  the  diffi- 
culties of  house-planning  will  not  discourage  anyone 


58  THE  HOUSE 

from  undertaking  it.  Women  especially  should  learn 
to  express  on  paper  the  mental  picture  they  have  of  the 
house  that  seems  to  them  comfortable  and  convenient. 
At  the  same  time  they  learn  to  understand  and  to  think 
in  the  terms  of  the  architect  and  so  to  interpret  his 
plans.  Very  many  disappointments  about  the  "new 
house"  are  due  to  the  fact  that  the  housekeeper  "did 
not  understand  from  the  plan  that  it  was  going  to  be 
that  way."  Some  bedrooms  are  made  with  no  desirable 
place  in  them  for  the  bed  because  they  were  consid- 
ered as  rooms  in  the  abstract  without  thinking  of  their 
particular  use  and  the  furniture  which  would  be  re- 
quired. 

House-planning  if  entered  into  in  the  right  spirit, 

Cross-Section  r         •   i  ^u      r        -i  •*.  i     •    ± 

Paper  can  furnish  to  the  family  quite  as  much  interest  and 
more  profit  than  a  game  of  cards.  A  good  pencil,  a 
ruler,  an  eraser,  some  cross-section  paper  and  a  prob- 
lem are  all  that  one  needs  to  begin  the  game.  The 
spaces  in  the  paper,  usually  one-eighth  inch,  can  stand 
for  a  foot  and  thus  aid  to  accuracy  and  proportion  of 
the  several  parts.  Or  the  engineering  paper  in  which 
the  spaces  are  smaller  may  be  used. 

ENTRANCES 

It  is  perhaps  simpler  to  make  the  entrance  the  chief 
factor  in  the  first  planning,  since  it  is  such  an  import- 
ant factor  in  all  house  plans.  Quite  unconsciously  our 
impression  of  the  house  is  greatly  influenced  by  our 


A.  SIMPLE  COLONIAL   ENTRANCE 
rnotograph  by  E.  Q.  Sylvester,  Boston 


OLD  COLONIAL  ENTRANCE.     NORWALL,   MASS. 
Leaded  Glass  Top  and  Side  Lights 


ENTRANCES 


59 


Plan  of  a  House  Showing  the  Use  of  Cross-Section  Paper.    Each  Small 
Square  Equals  One  Foot. 

ideas  about  the  front  entrance.  There  are  entrances 
that  repel,  that  invite,  that  show  the  owner's  love  of 
display,  that  leave  the  visitor  in  doubt  because  there 
are  apparently  three  front  doors. 


6o 


THE  HOUSE 


Essentials 


Simplest 
Entrance 


Porch  and 

Reception 

Hall 

Entrance 


What  then  are  the  essentials  in  a  front  entrance? 
First,  it  should  be  so  placed  as  to  leave  no  doubt  that 
it  is  the  principal  entrance.  To  that  end  it  should  be 
easily  accessible  and  have  some  distinctive  character. 
It  is  a  source  of  considerable  profit  and  diversion  to 
study  the  front  entrances  of  the  dwellings  on  a  particu- 
lar street  to  see  the  character  or  lack  of  it  which  they 
convey  to  the  passer-by. 

Let  us  consider  the  different  types  of  entrances.  The 
first,  simplest,  and  least  desirable  is  that  in  which  the 
caller  steps  directly  from  a  stone  or  a  plank  into  one 
of  the  principal  rooms  of  tha  house. 

There  are  many  disadvantages  about  such  an  ar- 
rangement. Whatever  of  cold  or  heat  or  storm  is  on 
the  outside  is  taken  directly  within  to  the  living  room. 
In  winter  the  frequent  admission  of  these  blasts  of  cold 
air  increases  the  expense  of  heating  the  house.  It  also 
means  additional  labor  for  the  housekeeper  because  of 
the  snow  and  dirt  that  are  brought  into  the  living 
room.  The  addition  of  even  a  small  porch  on  the  out- 
side large  enough  to  hold  a  mat  on  which  the  muddy 
boots  can  be  wiped,  and  a  roof  over  the  door  will  add 
not  only  to  the  appearance  of  the  house,  but  afford 
much  protection  to  the  front  door. 

Another  form  of  entrance  consists  of  porch  and  re- 
ception hall  with  the  stairs  leading  from  it.  This 
form  is  sometimes  used  to  economize  space ;  that  is, 
to  make  the  hall  serve  the  purpose  of  a  reception  room. 


ENTRANCES 


61 


PLAN  No.  1      Shows  Reception  Room  so  Arranged  as  to  Avoid  Drafts 

and  to  Give  Space  for  Chairs.    Combination  Stairs. 

Scale  &  inch=l  foot.* 

A  fireplace  adds  to  the  comfort  and  attractiveness  of 
this  hall.  Care  must  be  exercised  as  to  the  relative 
position  of  the  doors,  fireplace  and  stairway  or  the 
room  may  be  a  drafty  place.  With  the  proper  pre- 
cautions it  can  be  a  useful  and  attractive  room.  This 
plan  is  improved  by  making  a  vestibule  of  part  of  the 
hall.  (See  Plan  No.  i.) 

t  In  this  plan  the  danger  of  drafts  is  lessened  by  the 
fact  that  so  large  a  part  of  the  reception  room  is  be- 

*  In  all  of  the  house  plans  shown  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch  in  the  draw- 
ing represents  one  foot  in  the  house. 


ENTRANCES 


PLAN  No.  3.    Shielded  Entrance  at  North  Side.    House  Facing  West. 

yond  the  opening  into  the  hall  and  also  removed  from 
the  staircase. 

In  yet  another  type  of  house  the  entrance  consists 
of  three  parts,  (i)  porch,  (2)  vestibule,  (3)  entrance 
hall.  This  entrance  may  be  placed  in  the  middle  of 
the  house  with  rooms  on  either  side.  (See  Plan  No. 
2.)  Or,  if  there  be  a  narrow  lot  or  a  west  exposure, 
in  which  case  it  is  desirable  to  shield  the  front  en- 


66 


THE  HOUSE 


Side  Porch 
Entrance 


trance,  it  may  begin  with  a  porch  which  is  on  the 
front  and  extends  to  the  side,  .opening  into  a  vestibule 
which  leads  into  a  hall.  (See  Plan  No.  3.) 

In  this  plan,  No.  3,  the  porch  shuts  some  of  the  sun 
from  the  sitting  room  which  has  also  a  southern  ex- 
posure. The  entrance  is  shielded  both  by  the  porch 
and  by  the  projecting  parlor. 


riesT  ri_ooK 

PLAN  No.  4.    Northern  Entrance  Protected  by  Porch  and  Projecting 
Room.    West  Dining  Room  Not  so  Desirable.  Fine  Porch  on  the  East. 


ENTRANCES 


Another  type  of  entrance  at  the  side  is  shown  in 
Plan  No.  4.  There  is  no  porch  on  the  front  here  and 
the  reception  hall  with  its  bay  window  is  quite  an 
attractive  room. 

In  any  case  the  vestibule  proves  a  most  desirable 
addition.  It  makes  the  transition  from  the  outside  to 
the  inside  more  gradual,  prevents  the  direct  passage  of 
the  cold  air  into  the  body  of  the  house,  provides  a 
place  for  wraps,  overshoes,  umbrellas,  and  contributes 
to  the  comfort  of  both  hostess  and  caller. 

Plan  No.  5.  This  illustration  shows  a  very  conve- 
nient and  comfortable  arrangement  of  floor  space  in 
a  rather  small  house.  In  this  plan  a  small  amount  of 
space  used  as  hall  gives  convenient  access  to  the  recep- 
tion room,  living  room,  kitchen  and  stairs.  The  re- 
ception room  is  large  enough  for  the  formal  caller, 
while  the  living  room  is  a  very  attractive  and  well 
lighted  room.  The  second  story  shows  a  good  ar- 
rangement. 

No  mention  has  been  made  of  the  porte-cochere  or 
side  entrance,  which  is  so  desirable  in  country  or  sub- 
urban houses.  The  connection  is  sometimes  made 
by  a  side  porch  which  connects  with  the  front  one 
and  the  guests  pass  in  at  the  front  door.  Often  this 
is  not  desirable  as  it  results  sometimes  in  bringing 
the  guests  into  the  midst  of  a  company  when  no  op- 
portunity has  been  given  them  to  put  aside  their 
wraps.  It  is  better  if  the  side  porch  can  connect 


Vestibule 
Desirable 


Small 
Hall 


Side 
Entrance 


6  a 


§2 
P  "" 

2' 

a  a, : 


«s 

.1'J 

""  a 

a" 

o 
o 
M 


ENTRANCES  73 

directly  with  a  side  hall  and  thus  admit  the  guests 
to  the  stairs  without  passing  among  the  company. 

It  is  well  to  remember  what  seems  to  be  a  rather 
recent  development  in  house-planning ;  viz. :  that  the 
best  porch  for  family  use  is  not  necessarily  the  front 
porch.  A  southerly  'exposure,  which  for  many  reasons 
is  desirable,  does  not  give  a  pleasant  afternoon  front 
porch  ;  but  if  a  porch  be  placed  on  the  east  side,  the 
family  may  enjoy  shade  and  freedom  from  the  publicity 
of  the  front  entrance  at  the  same  time*  (See  Plan 
No.  2.)  A  good  porch,  someone  has  said,  "is  the  most 


Position 
of  Porches 


PLAN  No.  6.    Family  Porch  on  the  East  of  the  Living  Room.     Onl? 

One  Staircase,  but  Well  Placed  to  Serve  Double  Purpose, 

Servants'  Sitting  Room. 


74 


THE  HOUSE 


Conditions 
on  the  Farm 


Men's 

Sitting 

Room 


valuable  room  in  the  house."  It  is  certainly  a  bit  of 
space  that  yields  as  much  comfort  as  any  room,  now 
that  we  have  learned  to  have  roomy,  comfortable 
porches  and  to  live  on  them.  Plan  No.  6  shows  a 
small  entrance  porch  with  a  comfortable  porch  for  the 
family  on  the  east  connected  with  the  living  room. 

THE     FARM     HOUSE 

The  usual  distribution  of  the  first  floor  space  into 
kitchen,  dining  room,  living  room,  and  parlor  or  recep- 
tion room  with  hall  and  vestibule  which  has  been  sug- 
gested in  these  plans  has  been  worked  out  in  many  at- 
tractive ways  for  the  city  or  village  house,  but  is  not 
so  well  developed  for  the  average  farm  house.  The 
necessities  for  farm  dwellings  differ  somewhat  from 
town  houses.  For  example,  there  is  little  formal  call- 
ing on  the  farm,  but  frequent  short  calls  that  have  more 
or  less  of  a  business  character.  It  is  not  desirable  to 
bring  these  strangers  into  the  privacy  of  the  family 
life  and  apparently  not  suitable  to  receive  them  in  a 
formal  reception  room.  It  seems  as  if  a  reception  hall 
with  desk,  fireplace  and  one  or  two  easy  chairs,  with 
the  daily  paper  or  new  magazine  might  serve  a  useful 
purpose  here. 

Another  room  that  is  much  needed  in  some  farm 
houses  is  a  sitting  room  for  the  men  who  work  for 
the  family.  It  should  be  on  the  first  floor,  easily  ac- 
cessible from  the  side  or  rear  of  the  house,  and  have 


THE  FARM  HOUSE  75 

in  it  or  near  it  a  lavatory  in  order  that  the  workers 
may  be  able  to  make  themselves  clean  and  comfortable 
before  they  pass  to  the  dining  room. 

Another  requirement  of  the  average  farm  house  is     Large 
a  large  dining  room  to  accommodate  the  large  number     £oomg 
of  men  that  are  needed  on  threshing  and  wood  sawing 
days.     It  is  quite  desirable  also  that  the  dining  room 
shall  have  an  outside  door,  that  it  may  not  be  necessary 
for  workmen  to  pass  through  the  kitchen  and  pantries 
or  sitting  room  to  reach  the  dining  room. 

Plan  No.  7,  shows  a  plan  for  a  farm  house  that  has 
many  desirable  qualities.  The  men's  sitting  room  is 
well  placed.  The  bedrooms  for  the  "help"  are  sepa- 
rated from  the  family  bedrooms  as  is  also  the  bath- 
room. A  bedroom  downstairs  is  often  a  great  con- 
venience, particularly  if  the  mother  does  her  own 
work  and  has  little  children.  A  great  lack  in  most 
farm  houses  is  water  brought  into  the  kitchen.  It 
seems  to  be  easy  enough  to  have  the  wind  pump  and 
the  pipes  to  carry  the  water  into  the  barn,  but  "so 
much  trouble"  to  put  it  into  the  kitchen.  In  no  place 
is  the  need  greater  for  water  in  the  kitchen  and  for 
a  good  bath  room  than  on  the  farm. 

The  plan  for  a  farm  house  is  capable  of  many  varia- 
tions. The  outline  of  the  parlor  may  be  made  less 
rectangular  by  a  change  in  the  windows.  If  the  men's 
room  is  not  needed  by  the  "help"  as  a  sitting  room  all 
the  year  it  will  make  a  good  children's  room. 


PLAN  No.  7.    Farm  House.    Facing  South.    Family  Bedroom  and 
"  Help"  Sitting  Room. 


PLAN  No.  7.    Farm  House.    Separation  of  Family  and  Servants' 
Koonis.    Good  Arrangement  of  Rear  Stairs. 


THE  HOUSE 


Most  farmers  would  probably  not  be  willing  to  put 
in  two  bathrooms.  In  that  case  the  space  given  to  the 
family  bathroom  might  be  used  as  a  sewing  room.  The 


PLAN  No.  8.    Basement  Plan  of  a  Farm  House  Saving  Bath  Room 
in  the  Cellar. 


THE  FARM  HOUSE 


79 


arrangement  of  the  back  stairs  makes  it  possible  to 
pass  directly  to  the  attic  from  the  first  floor. 

The  dining  room  is  large  and  can  be  entered  from 


PLAN  No.  8.    First  Floor.    Bay  Window  in  the  Dining  Room,  and 
Fireplace  in  Living  Room.    (See  Page  59  for  Second  Floor  Plan). 


8o 


THE  HOUSE 


Farmer's 

Flan  for  a 

Farm  House 


The  Hall 


the  men's  room.  The  essentials  in  the  kitchen  at*, 
well  located. 

Plan  No.  8  is  a  student's  plan  for  a  farm  house.  It 
shows  the  use  of  cross-section  paper  in  making  house 
plans,  each  small  square  representing  a  foot.  The 
maker  of  this  plan  is  a  farmer's  son.  It  seemed  to  him 
desirable  to  have  the  place  for  the  men  to  clean  up  in 
the  basement.  The  cold  storage  room  has  in  it  a  place 
for  the  storage  of  ice  for  summer  use.  The  stairs  from 
the  basement  lead  directly  into  the  rear  hall,  which 
gives  easy  access  to  kitchen  and  dining  room.  A  bay 
window  adds  attractiveness  to  the  dining  room  and  a 
fire-place  gives  cheer  in  the  living  room.  If  it  were 
desirable  the  library  might  serve  as  the  office  and  re- 
ception room,  or  the  room  could  be  used  as  a  down- 
stairs bedroom  if  one  were  needed. 

If  the  house  be  heated  by  a  furnace,  a  hall  is  very 
desirable;  if  it  be  not  so  heated  a  hall  seems  a  cold, 
unattractive  place  in  winter.* 

These  two  types  of  house  plans  seem  fairly  well  suit- 
ed to  the  needs  of  farm  life. 

ROOMS 

The  entrances  and  halls  considered  indicate  a  few 
of  the  ways  in  which  the  thoroughfares  of  the  lower 
floor  may  be  treated  in  the  distribution  of  the  floor 
space.  The  width  of  the  hall  will  depend  upon  the 
size  of  the  house,  the  location  of  the  hall  and  the  pur- 


ROOMS  81 

pose  it  is  intended  to  serve.  Seven  and  one-half  or 
eight  feet  is  a  minimum  width  for  a  central  hall.  The 
lighting  of  it  too  is  an  important  factor.  It  is  usually 
accomplished  by  making  a  part  of  the  entrance  door 
of  glass1,  by  transom  and  by  glass  at  the  sides  of  the 
door.  Artistic  and  pleasing  effects  are  often  thus  pro- 
duced. 

It  may  be  well  now  to  consider  some  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  rooms  usually  found  on  the  first  floor. 
If  one  classifies  the  rooms  of  a  house  as  rooms  to  live 
in,  to  work  in,  and  to  sleep  in,  those  rooms  which  be- 
long to  the  first  two  classes  will  be  found  most  often 
on  the  first  floor. 

It  has  been  said  that  proportion  is  the  good  breeding 

Proportion 

of  architecture  and  it  is  one  element  never  to  be  for- 
gotten in  house  construction  or  decoration.  The  thor- 
oughfares are  to  have  their  due  proportion  of  space, 
no  more ;  no  less ;  the  separate  rooms  are  to  have  their 
proportion  of  space,  determined  by  the  purposes  which 
they  are  to  serve.  For  example,  a  large  parlor  or  re- 
ception room  and  a  small  living  room  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  the  comfort  of  the  family  was  to  be  sacri- 
ficed to  display  for  the  formal  caller.  Each  room  is  to 
be  considered  not  only  in  reference  to  its  specified  pur- 
pose but  in  its  relation  to  the  other  rooms,  and  to  the 
thoroughfares. 

The  Parlor.  Much  is  said  in  these  days  about  "the 
passing  of  the  parlor,"  and  great  emphasis  is  put  upon 


82  THE  HOUSE 

the  living  room.  A  closer  study  would  seem  to  in- 
dicate that  it  was  not  the  room  that  was  passing  away, 
but  that  its  purpose  was  given  a  new  interpretation. 

The  term  parlor  to  many  people  suggests  a  square 
room  with  a  few  pieces  of  hair  cloth  furniture  set  at 
regular  distances  about  the  wall,  a  "center  table"  in 
the  center  of  the  room  and  on  it  a  glass  case  contain- 
ing wax  flowers  and  an  album ;  the  walls  decorated 
with  the  family  portraits,  and  the  whole  having  a  gen- 
erally unlivable  air  and  so  quite  properly  reserved  for 
funerals  and  weddings. 

Heception  Happily  such  parlors  are  "passing"  and  some  peo- 
ple, because  of  the  ridicule  attached  to  them,  are  al- 
most afraid  to  own  that  they  possess  a  parlor.  The 
fact  remains,  however,  that  that  ridiculed  parlor  stood 
for  two  things  which  every  well-regulated  home  should 
have, — a  room  that  is  kept  in  order,  and  a  place  where 
the  formal  caller  may  be  received  without  intruding 
into  the  privacy  of  the  family  life.  The  rooms  in  which 
the  family  live  and  work  are  not  always  and  should 
not  be  expected  to  be  ready  for  the  reception  of  the 
passing  stranger.  So,  for  the  comfort  of  all  it  is  belter 
that  there  should  be  a  room  near  the  principal  entrance 
and  not  far  from  the  front  stairs  for  the  reception  room 
or  parlor.  To  avoid  the  "stiffness"  sometimes  asso- 
ciated with  a  square  room  its  outline  may  be  changed 
by  the  introduction  of  a  bay  window  or  a  grate.  The 
haircloth  furniture  and  family  portraits  also  may  be 


ROOMS  83 

eliminated.  It  is  desirable  too  that  this  room  have 
more  than  one  door  of  exit.  In  case  a  company  is  to 
be  entertained  in  the  house  "circulation"  is  much  more 
easily  accomplished  if  one  may  pass  from  the  parlor 
to  either  the  hall  or  library  or  sitting  room. 

The  Living  Room.     In  this  room  the  family  life  is      Living 
to  center.    Provision  is  to  be  made  in  it  for  the  needs        ooin 
of  the  various  members.     It  should  then  have,  if  pos- 
sible, the  best  view  the  situation  affords,  plenty  of  sun- 
light, and  a  view  of  the  setting  sun  is  desirable.     Its 
outline  too  should  be  distinctly  varied  either  by  win- 
dows or  fire-place  so  as  to  make  it  possible  for  groups 
to  gather.     Cupboards  for  toys,  fancy  work,  or  a  few 
books,  and  window  seats  which  open — all  help  to  meet 
the  varying  needs  of  family  life. 

This  room  too  should  open  on  the  principal  thor- 
oughfare. It  is  desirable  that  it  be  the  largest  room  of 
the  house,  oblong  rather  than  square ;  a  room  eighteen 
by  thirty  or  twenty  by  thirty  feet  makes  a  good-sized 
living  room. 

The  Dining  Room.  This  is  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant rooms  in  the  house.  It  is  possibly  the  one  place 
where  all  the  family  gather  daily.  Cheer  and  bright- 
ness are  associated  with  it  and  its  construction  should 
aid  to  both.  First,  as  to  size :  It  should  be  wide  enough 
to  allow  the  easy  passage  about  it  that  is  required  in 
service.  A  minimum  of  eleven  by  thirteen  and  one- 
half  feet  ~\nd  a  maximum  of  seventeen  by  twenty-two 


THE  HOUSE 


Lighting 

of  the 

Dining 

Boom 


The 

"Dinner  Route" 


feet  seem  to  meet  the  requirements  of  ordinary  houses-. 
A  sideboard  or  china  closet  is  almost  an  essential.  It 
is  desirable  to  have  it  built  in  in  a  recess  near  the 
pantry  door.  If  there  be  room  for  it  a  fireplace  is  a 
desirable  addition  but  its  location  should  be  carefully 
considered.  It  is  better  at  the  end  than  at  the  side,  as 
the  heat  of  the  fire  may  make  the  backs  of  the  people 
at  table  uncomfortable. 

The  lighting  is  another  important  consideration.  If 
that  can  come  from  the  end  too,  it  is  less  likely  to  shine 
in  the  eyes-  of  the  people  at  table,  or  to  cast  a  shadow 
over  those  on  the  other  side  of  the  table.  It  should  not, 
however,  be  placed  directly  in  the  middle  of  the  end, 
but  distributed  by  being  put  near  the  corners  of  the 
room.  A  secondary  light  may  be  added  by  smaller  or 
irregular  windows  at  the  side.  A  western  exposure  is 
not  preferable  for  a  dining  room.  It  makes  the  room 
a  rather  cheerless  one  on  a  winter's  morning,  and  in 
the  summer,  by  the  time  the  family  gather  for  the 
evening  meal,  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun  are  likely  to 
interfere  with  their  comfort.  So  a  southerly  or  easterly 
aspect  is  much  to  be  preferred. 

The  communication  with  the  kitchen  should  be  easy, 
not  direct,  but  through  a  small  pantry.  By  this  means 
the  odors  from  the  kitchen  are  avoided,  and  the  two 
walls  shut  from  the  dining  room  the  noise  in  the 
kitchen.  The  doors  in  the  pantry  should  not  be  directly 
opposite,  lest  they  afford  a  direct  view  into  the  kitchen 


ROOMS  85 

from  the  dining  room.  It  is  quite  evident  also  that 
this  passage  from  the  kitchen  to  the  dining  room, 
called  by  some  the  "dinner  route,"  should  be  distinct 
and  separate  from  the  family  thoroughfares. 

The  question  of  the  communication  between  the  din- 
kitchen  is  an  open  one.  In  a  small  house  where  the 
only  rooms  that  can  be  open  to  guests  are  the  parlor 
and  dining  room,  it  seems  almost  necessary  to  have 
direct  communication  between  them.  On  the  other 
hand  because  of  the  close  connection  of  this  room  with 
the  service  rooms  and  the  consequent  necessity,  for 
several  hours  of  the  day,  for  complete  separation  it  is 
desirable  not  to  have  this  direct  communication. 

Perhaps  in  this  connection  a  mild  protest  may  be  sliding 
entered  against  a  too  generous  use  of  sliding  doors 
between  the  parlor,  library,  living  room  and  dining 
room.  They  may  prove  useful  when  one  wishes  to 
"open  up"  the  house  for  a  large  company,  but  for 
daily  living  they  certainly  detract  from  the  privacy  and 
singleness  of  use  for  which  the  separate  rooms  were 
planned.  In  feudal  times  the  hall  was  the  place  where 
the  people  lived,  ate,  worked,  and  slept.  The  introduc- 
tion of  separate  rooms  for  sleeping  and  eating  were 
regarded  as  improvements.  The  introduction  of  a  dis- 
tinct passage  way  wras  a  still  further  improvement.  A 
too  generous  use  of  sliding  doors  seems  to  convert 
the  floor  space  into  a  large  hall.  Sounds  and  odors 


86 


THE  HOUSE 


Sitting 

Room 

or  Study 


Tlstof 

the  Kitchen 


then  penetrate  to  all  parts  of  the  house.  The  reader 
in  the  library  is  apt  to  be  disturbed  by  the  chatting  in 
the  parlor.  The  odors  from  the  dining  room  are 
wafted  into  the  living  room.  It  seems  much  more  de- 
sirable to  have  a  hall  serve  as-  a  means  of  communi- 
cation and  the  rooms  allowed  to  fulfill  their  particular 
function. 

The  Library.  This  term  may  mean  a  study  chiefh 
for  some  one  member  of  the  family  or  it  may  be  a  kind 
of  sitting  room  in  which  most  of  the  books  of  the 
family  are  kept.  If  it  is  the  former,  the  privacy  and 
quiet  which  the  worker  seeks  is  often  more  easily  ob- 
tained on  the  second  floor. 

The  Kitchen.  There  yet  remains  for  consideration 
that  all  important  room,  the  kitchen ;  out  of  which 
issues  so  much  that  makes  or  mars  the  health  and  com- 
fort of  the  family.  A  visit  to  the  kitchen  of  the  Dean- 
ery of  Durham  Cathedral  helped  the  author  to  realise 
as  never  before  how  the  purposes  of  the  kitchen  had 
changed  in  the  centuries.  That  was  an  octagonal 
room  with  eight  fireplaces  and  a  stone  floor.  The 
guides  explained  that  perhaps-  only  two  or  three  of  the 
fireplaces  would  be  used  in  the  preparation  of  the  daily 
food ;  that  in  the  others  were  hung  the  quarters  of 
beef  or  the  pork  destined  for  future  use  and  preserved 
by  the  smoke  which  was  kept  beneath  them. 

The  modern  kitchen  is  not  supposed  to  be  either  a 
store  room,  a  laundry,  or  a  sitting  room,  but  it  is  a 


ROOMS 


CONVENIENT  PLAN  OP  KITCHEN,  DINING  ROOM 
AND  PANTRIES. 

place  for  the  preparation  of  food,  a  workshop.  For 
that  purpose  it  should  be  well  lighted,  ventilated  pre- 
ferably by  a  cross  draft,  and  of  such  materials  as  can 
be  cleaned  easily.  It  should  be  so  planned  that  its 
chief  articles  of  furniture — the  range,  sink,  work  table 
— should  be  near  together  and  in  line  with  the  pantry, 
that  its  working  space  may  be  as  compact  as  possible. 
(See  Kitchen  in  Plan  No.  7.) 

A  room  ten  by  twelve  feet  is  usually  sufficient  for 
the  purpose.  Opinions  differ  greatly  concerning  the 
details  of  the  kitchen.  Some  women  prefer  a  very 


Size 


88  THE  HOUSE 

small  kitchen  and  a  large  pantry  with  provision  for 
doing  the  pastry  work  and  much  of  the  preparation  of 
the  food  other  than  the  cooking.  Others  prefer  a  large 
kitchen  with  a  space  quite  removed  from  the  range  for 
this  preparation.  If  the  woman  does  her  own  work 
the  first  plan  has  much  to  commend  it,  and  the  amount 
of  travel  is  not  greatly  increased  if  the  working  pantry 
be  well  placed. 

closets  However  much  opinions  differ  as  to  the  size  of  the 
kitchen,  all  women  appreciate  the  value  of  closets  and 
cupboards.  It  may  be  desirable  for  the  cook  in  hotel 
kitchens  to  have  his  utensils  hung  on  the  walls  over 
his  work  table.  His  interest  does  not  lie  in  making 
as  little  work  at  possible  for  those  who  are  to  wash  the 
soiled  utensils  and  keep  the  room  in  good  order.  He 
wishes  everything  at  hand  that  he  may  work  quickly. 
In  the  average  home  the  woman  who  cooks  also  cleans 
and  it  is  to  her  interest  to  have  as  few  things  as  pos- 
sible exposed  to  the  dust  and  steam  of  the  kitchen. 
Utensils  do  not  need  to  be  exposed  to  be  easily  access- 
ible and  the  care  of  them  is  greatly  lessened  if  cup- 
boards are  abundant  and  roomy. 

The  The  location  of  the  ice-box  is  a  fruitful  source  of 
annoyance  in  many  houses.  It  should  be  so  placed  that 
it  can  be  filled  from  the  back  porch  and  thus  avoid  the 
necessity  of  having  the  iceman's  boots  and  dripping 
ice  leave  their  marks  in  the  kitchen. 
See  ice-box  in  Plan  No.  2. 


ROOMS 


KITCHEN  PLAN  WITH  LARGE  PANTRIES. 

Sink  in  Butler's  Pantry.    Refrigerator  in  Working  Pantry. 

Servants'  Room. 

Before  leaving  the  first  floor  I  wish  to  emphasize 
the  comfort  and  convenience  afforded  by  plenty  of 
closets  in  addition  of  those  destined  for  kitchen  uses. 
Beginning  in  the  front  entrance  a  useful  piece  of  fur- 
niture is  a  box  seat  which  may  hold  the  rubbers.  A 
closet  under  the  front  stairs  for  wraps  is  most  desir- 
able. Reference  has  already  been  made  to  their  use  in 
the  living  room. 


Closets 


90  THE  HOUSE 

We  have  come  by  a  somewhat  circuitous  route  to  the 
second  floor  plan.  Just  at  this  point  is  where  the  real 
fun  in  house  planning  begins,  when  one  begins  to  de- 
vise a  means  of  getting  to  the  second  floor.  It  is  said 
that  most  women  plan  houses  without  putting  in  any 
stairs,  and  then  wonder  what  the  architect  means  by 
the  "well  hole,"  since  they  understood  that  the  "water 
supply  was  to  be  brought  from  the  outside." 

STAIRS 

Eciation         It  may  be  well  to  face  the  difficulties  squarely  and 
to  Biser      to  decide  just  what  is  to  be  expected  of  a  stairs.    First : 
That  it  shall  afford  an  easy  means  of  transition  from 
the  first  to  the  second  floor.     The  ladder  of  the  log 
cabin  failed  at  the  point  of  ease.     The  winding  stair 
is  likely  to  have  the  same  de- 
fect.   Wherein  then  lies  the  se- 
cret  of   ease    in   stairs?     The 
A  architect  answers  in   the   rela- 

tion of  riser  to  tread.  A  stairs  in  which  the  riser  and 
tread  bear  the  relation  shown  in  figure  B,  gives  one 
somewhat  the  feeling  of  attempting  to  lift  him- 
self bodily  into  the  air.  A  stairs  in  which  the 
tread  is  about  double  the  riser,  A,  is  a  much  more  com- 
fortable one.  Authorities  seem  to  agree  that  when 
twice  the  height  of  the  riser  added  to  once  the  tread 
equals  twenty-four  inches  the  stair  will  be  comfortable ; 
that  means  a  riser  of  seven  inches  and  a  tread  of  ten. 


STAIRS 


Two  times  seven  plus  ten  equal  fourteen  plus  ten 
equals  twenty-four. 

Second :  It  is  evident  that  in  going  up  stairs  attention 
must  be  given  to  one's  head  as  well  as  to  one's  feet, 
hence  the  necessity  for  the  "well"  or  space  between 
the  floors. 

Again,  the  stairs  must  be  of  sufficient  width  to  al- 
low easy  passage.  They  should  not  be  less  than  three 
feet  and  six  inches,  while  four  feet  is  a  better  width. 
The  rear  staircases  should  be  wide  enough  to  carry  up 
furniture  and  trunks,  and  so  save  the  front  staircases. 
If  absolutely  necessary  an  eight  inch  riser  may  be  used 
in  the  rear  stairs.  Into  what  shall  the  upper  stairs 
lead?  This  is  an  important  question.  The  answer 
given  by  some  houses  would  be  into  a  narrow,  box 
like  passage  way ;  by  others,  into  a  room.  Compara- 
tively few  people  seem  to  understand  that  their  efforts 
regarding  attractive  hall  space  ought  not  to  be  limited 
to  the  first  floor.  It  is  quite  as  desirable  to  have  the 
stairs  end  well. 

Plans  No.  2  and  No.  5  show  attractive  hall  space 
on  the  second  floor. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  stairs  attention  should 
be  called  to  the  various  kinds  of  stairs  in  the  house 
plans  already  considered.  It  is  easy  to  appreciate  the 
value  of  a  front  and  back  stairway  as  illustrated  in 
house  plans  Nos.  2.  4,  and  7 ;  but  in  small  houses  it 
sometimes  is  desirable  to  put  both  the  space  and  money 


Well  Hole 


Front  and 
Back  Stair 


THE  HOUSE 


Combination 
"Stairway 


VNCOVERCD  PORCM 
O 


p 


PLAN  No.  9.  An  Excellent  Arrangement  of  Rooms  in  a  House  Nearly 
Square  in  Plan.  Compact  Stairway.  Side  Entrance  for  Doctor's 
Patients.  Convenient  Kitchen,  Pantry  and  Refrigerator.  Note  Side- 
walk Light  in  the  Covered  Porch  to  Admit  Light  to  the  Cellar. 

required  for  the  making  of  the  second  pair  of  stairs 
to  some  other  use.  In  such  cases  one  may  use  either 
a  "combination  stairway,"  as  shown  in  house  plan  No. 
I,  or  locate  the  one  stairway  in  such  a  place  that  it 
will  be  easily  accessible  from  the  'front  or  rear  of  the 


STAIRS 


93 


PLAN  No.  9.    Second  Floor.    Good  Closet  Room.    Clothes  Chute  in 
the  Bath  Room.    Scale  ^  inch=l  foot. 
Messrs.  White  and  Temple,  Architects. 

house.  House  plan  No.  6  is  a  good  example  of  that 
kind  of  a  stairway.  It  is  easily  accessible  from  the 
front  hall  and  yet  so  placed  that  one  could  pass  up 
stairs  from  the  kitchen  without  being  noticed  by  any 
person  in  the  reception  room. 

The  combination  stairway  as  shown  in  Figure  I, 
gives  the  privacy  and  separation  on  the  first  floor  and 
saves  space  on  the  second  floor. 


SECOND  FLOOR  95 

SECOND  FLOOR  PLAN 

The  division  of  floor  space  here  into  rooms  and 
thoroughfares  should  receive  careful  attention.  The 
rooms  are  likely  to  be  used  for  bedrooms ;  possibly  the 
family  sitting  room  may  be  here.  If  so  it  should  be 
near  the  front  stairs,  and  the  bath  room  should  be 
accessible  but  somewhat  removed  from  the  front.  It 
is  very  desirable  to  separate  the  bath  room  and  the 
water  closet. 

The  surest  \vav  to  be  certain  that  the  bedrooms  have 

'  Placing  of 

wall  space  for  the  furniture  one  expects  to  place  in  a  Furniture 
bedroom  is  by  representing  these  various  articles  of 
furniture  by  bits  of  paper  at  the  same  scale  as  the  plan, 
and  placing  them  about  the  room.  Care  should  be 
taken  about  the  position  of  the  door  that  it  be  not  so 
placed  as  to  expose  the  bed  whenever  it  is  open.  Light 
and  air  should  be  obtained  by  windows  on  two  sides 
if  possible,  or  by  use  of  transoms.  Ample  provision 
should  be  made  for  closet  space,  at  least  one  in  each 
bedroom ;  one  in  the  hall  for  the  weekly  supply  of 
linen,  and  a  store  room  for  the  bed  coverings. 

APARTMENTS 

Nothing  yet  has  been  said  about  apartments  or  flats 
in  which  all  the  rooms  are  on  one  floor.  The  building 
of  apartments  is  increasing  rapidly  in  the  large  cities 
where  land  is  expensive,  because  rents  can  be  less  for 
the  reason  that  not  so  much  must  be  charged  for  the 
ground  rent.  When  hot  water,  heat,  and  janitor  ser- 


THE  HOUSE 


Essentials 
in  House 
Planning 


Originality 


vice  are  furnished,  the  complications  of  housekeeping 
are  lessened  and  as  there  are  no  stairs  to  climb,  energy 
is  saved  in  the  daily  routine.  In  the  planning  of  apart- 
ments the  most  difficult  problem  is  to  obtain  sufficient 
light  and  air — especially  sunlight.  Many  of  the  rooms 
in  a  block  of  houses  must,  of  necessity,  be  dark  or  only 
partially  lighted — an  unpleasant  and  unhygienic  condi- 
tion. 

Many  apartments  are  planned  with  a  long,  dark  hall. 
The  accompanying  illustration  shows  an  apartment  in 
which  such  a  hall  is  not  present.  The  conveniences 
of  a  well-planned  apartment  are  not  to  be  gainsaid. 
The  disadvantages  are  lack  of  privacy,  an  inability  to 
have  out-of-doors  space,  and  lack  of  sunlight.  These 
disadvantages  are  most  objectionable  when  there  are 
children  in  the  family. 

So  much  for  the  planning  of  the  house.  Whatever 
the  style  selected,  the  requirements  of  good  building 
are  great  leading  lines,  good  proportion,  clear  detail, 
and  appropriate  ornament.  If  the  owner  remembers 
this  and  that  the  structure  must  be  adapted  to  location, 
environment,  and  purpose,  with  comfort  and  conven- 
ience, he  is  likely  to  have  a  house  that  is  pleasing  to 
the  eye  as  well  as  convenient. 

To  some  people  originality  and  individuality  in  house 
planning  consist  in  introducing  an  unusual  window 
here,  a  strange  cornice  or  ornament  there,  and  an  odd 
door  at  another  place.  As  a  result  of  this  "freakish- 
ness"  one  finds  a  window  which  looks  like  the  port  hole 


ST>T 


APARTMENTS 


97 


PLAN  OF  A  FLAT  WITHOUT  A  LONG,  DARK  HALL. 
GOOD  CLOSET  ROOM. 

of  a  vessel,  a  gingerbread  cornice  and  a  heavy  castle 
door  all  heaped  together  in  a  small  house,  making  it 
look  as  if  it  had  been  made  from  an  architectural 
scrap  bag. 

This  quotation  from  "Decoration  of  Houses,"  by 
Codman  and  Wharton  is  one  that  ought  to  be  fre- 
quently recalled.  The  author  is  discussing  originality 
in  architecture :  "What  is  originality  in  art  ?  Perhaps 
it  is  easier  to  define  what  it  is  not;  and  this  may  be 


98  THE  HOUSE 

done  by  saying  that  it  is  never  a  wilful  rejection  of 
what  have  been  accepted  as  the  necessary  laws  of  the 
various  forms  of  art.  .Thus,  in  reasoning,  originality 
lies  not  in  discarding  the  necessary  laws  of  thought, 
but  in  using  them  to  express  new  intellectual  concep- 
tions ;  in  poetry,  originality  consists  not  in  discarding 
the  necessary  laws  of  rhythm,  but  in  finding  new 
rhythms  within  the  limits  of  those  laws.  Most  oi  the 
features  of  architecture  that  have  persisted  through  va- 
rious fluctuations  of  taste,  owe  their  preservation  to  the 
fact  that  they  have  been  proved  by  experience  to  be 
necessary ;  and  it  will  be  found  that  none  of  them  pre- 
cludes the  exercise  of  individual  taste,  any  more  than 
the  acceptance  of  the  syllogism  or  of  the  laws  of 
rhythm  prevents  new  thinkers  and  poets  from  saying 
what  has  never  been  said  before.  *  *  *  All  good 
architecture  and  good  decoration  must  be  based  on 
rhythm  and  logic.  *  *  *  To  conform  to  a  style 
then  is  to  accept  those  rules  of  proportion  which  the 
artistic  experience  of  centuries  has  established  as  the 
best,  while  within  those  limits  allowing  free  scope  to 
the  individual  requirements  which  must  inevitably  mod- 
ify every  house  or  room  adapted  to  the  use  and  con- 
venience of  its  occupants," 


THE    HOUSE 

Its  Plan,  Decoration  and  Care 


PART    II 


Read  Carefully.  Place  your  name  and  address  on  the 
first  sheet  of  the  test.  Use  a  light  grade  of  paper  and  write 
on  one  side  of  the  sheet  only.  Do  not  copy  answers  from 
the  lesson  paper.  Use  your  own  words,  so  that  your  in- 
structor may  know  that  you  understand  the  subject.  Read 
the  lesson  paper  a  number  of  times  before  attempting  to 
answer  the  questions. 


1.  Name  some  considerations  that  influence  in  de- 

termining the  (a)  site  of  a  house,  (b)  ma- 
terials, and  (c)  general  appearance  of  a 
house. 

2.  What  disadvantages  arise  from  an  unwise  dis- 

tribution of  floor  space? 

3.  Name  the  different  types  of  entrances. 

4.  Describe  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  a 

reception  hall  plan. 

5.  What  are  some  of  the  special  needs  of  farm 

houses  ? 

6.  Which  of  the  nine  plans  illustrated  do  you  like 

best?    Why? 

7.  Give  some  distinctive  characteristics  of  the  (a) 

parlor,  (b)  living  room,  (c)  dining  room,  (d) 
library,  (e)  chambers. 


THE  HOUSE 

8.  Which  type  of  kitchen  plans  do  you  prefer? 

What  are  your  reasons  ? 

9.  How  is  ease  secured  in  stairs  ? 

10.  What    are    the    advantages    of    a    combination 

stairs  ? 

11.  Complete  the  plan  you  like  best  (No.  i,  3,  4,  5, 

or  6)  for  the  first  and  second  story.  Make 
your  drawing  twice  the  size  of  the  illustration, 
i.  e.,  scale  y§  inch:=i  foot,  using  cross  section 
paper. 

12.  Indicate  on  your  sketch  the  position  and  size  of 

range,  sink,  refrigerator,  and  dining  room 
table  on  the  first  floor,  and  of  the  beds  and 
bureaus  on  the  second  floor,  determining  their 
position  by  using  small  bits  of  paper  as  de- 
scribed on  page  95. 

Note.    After  completing  the  test  sign  your  full  name. 


THE   HOUSE 

Its  Plan,  Decoration  and  Care 


PART  III 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  THE  HOUSE 

Perhaps  an  outline  will  afford  the  simplest  method 
for  suggesting  some  of  the  points  to  be  considered  in 
the  construction  of  the  house. 


THE    HOUSE 


(2)    Preparation   of   the 

soil  for,  includes 
Removal    of    the    top 

soil, 

Grading, 
Drainage. 
(4J  Cellar 
Structure,     floor    and 

walls, 
Drainage, 
Divisions, 
Inner  finish, 
Ventilation, 
Lighting. 

Before  considering  the  superstructure,  we  will  stop 
a  moment  to  amplify  some  of  the  points  suggested. 

The  adaptation  of  the  structure  to  its  intended  uses 
has  already  been  considered. 

The  removal  of  the  top  soil  prevents  it  from  being 
mixed  with  the  lime,  sand,  and  cellar  dirt,  and  leaves 


( 1 1  Structure  adapted  to 
Location, 
Environment, 
Purpose  of  the  owner. 


''5;  Foundation  Walls 
Materials, 
Size, 

Manner  of  laying, 
Height  above  ground. 


outline 


Preparation 
of  the  Bite 


102 


THE  HOUSE 


Sle 
Ceilar 


it  ready  for  use  in  the  growing  of  the  grass  later.  If 
this  precaution  is  not  observed  it  may  be  necessary  to 
bring  good  soil  from  elsewhere. 

The  materials  of  the  foundation  will  be  either  brick 
or  stone,  according  to  the  expense.  Stone  is  usually 
more  expensive  and  is  generally  considered  better  than 
brick,  but  owing  to  the  difficulty  in  securing  good 
stone  masons  to  lay  the  stone  properly,  brick  has 
grown  into  favor  and  is  preferred  by  some  good  build- 
ers, especially  above  the  ground  line.  Neither  brick 
nor  stone  should  be  laid  in  freezing  weather  and  only 
cement  mortar,  to  keep  out  dampness,  should  be  used 
for  walls  below  ground.  The  thickness  will  depend 
upon  the  kind  of  superstructure.  F.  C.  Moore  says  in 
"How  to  Build  a  House,"  "Foundation  walls  should 
not  be  less  than  twelve  inches  if  of  brick,  nor  less  than 
eighteen  inches  if  of  stone."  The  part  of  the  walls 
above  the  surface  of  the  ground  should  not  be  less 
than  eighteen  inches  in  thickness. 

One  feels  inclined  to  beg  that  special  emphasis 
should  be  given  to  the  construction  of  the  cellar,  for  out 
of  it  issues  so  much  that  makes  for  health  or  disea.se. 
Probably  it  will  never  be  known  how  much  of  the  low 
state  of  vitality  found  in  some  families  is  to  be  cliarged 
to  an  illy  ventilated,  badly  lighted,  poorly  drained  cellar 
used  as  a  storehouse  for  decaying  vegetables  and  send- 
ing its  foul  germ-laden  air  to  every  part  of  the  house. 

It  is  more  sanitary  to  have  the  cellar  under  the 
whole  house  and  adds  very  little  to  the  expense.  Its 


CONSTRUCTION 


103 


ceilings  should  not  be  less  than  seven  feet  high,  plas- 
tered if  possible  on  metallic  lathing.  The  side  walls 
should  be  whitewashed.  The  floor  made  of  concrete. 
It  should  be  well  drained,  well  lighted  and  partitioned 
into  such  rooms  as  have  definite  uses.  The  vegetable 
room  should  be  separated  and  fitted  for  its  purpose. 

SUPERSTRUCTURE   OF   THE   HOUSE 

,  (2)    1 1 'alls 
Materials, 
Wood, 
Stone, 
Brick. 
Shingles. 
(4)   Chimneys 
Built  from  ground, 
\Yalls  of  flues    (eight 

inches  thick), 
Lined  with  fire  clav  or 


('/;   Framing 
Balloon, 
Braced. 


(3j  Floors 
Construction, 
Single, 
Double. 

Manner  of  laying. 
Deafening. 
Sweeping  molding. 
( 5;  Doors 
(      Closets 


flue  lining. 

(6)  Windows 
(8)  Devices  for 

Strength. 

Warmth, 

Dryness. 

Safety  from  fire. 

Preventing  shrinkage. 
(10)  Roofs 

Material, 

Manner  of  laying. 

Of  the   two  kinds   of   framing,   that  known   as  the 
braced   is   the   more   expensive   and   stronger. 


(Q)  Porches 


104 


THE  HOUSE 


Balloon 

and  Braced 

Framing 


Frame 


Lath 

and 

Plaster 


The  balloon  frame  is  considered  strong  enough  for 
all  practical  purposes  and  is  quite  generally  used.  See 
illustration.  Owing  to  the  greater  expense  of  building 
stone  or  brick  houses,  and  the  fact  that  they  are  more 
apt  to  be  damp  than  frame  houses,  wood  is  the  material 
more  generally  used. 

The  construction  of  a  wooden  building  is,  in  gen- 


f       -~r  | 

BRACED  FRAME.  BALLOON  FRAME, 

a,  Corner  Posts;  b,  Sill;  c,  Plate;  d.  Girt;  e.  Braces;/,  Studs;  h.  Sill; 

j,  Ledger  Board;  *,  Plate. 

In  the  full  braced  frame  all  pieces  are  fastened  together  with  mor- 
tise-and-tenon  joints.  In  the  balloon  frame  the  pieces  are  simply  nailed, 
the  frame  depending  upon  the  boarding  for  its  stiffness.  A  combination 
of  the  two  is  common. 

eral,  as  follows:  The  walls  consist  of  a  frame  of 
studs  or  light  timbers,  2  in.  by  4  in.  or  2  in.  by  6  in., 
set  about  sixteen  inches  apart  from  center  to  center. 
The  outside  is  covered  with  rough  boards,  then  with 
clap-boards  or  shingles. 

Inside  the  walls  are  covered  with  laths  and  plaster 
The  interior  partitions  are  made  of  studding  covered 


CONSTRUCTION 


105 


on  both  sides  with  laths  and  plaster.  The  laths  should 
be  green,  that  is,  not  dried,  for  the  wet  plaster  would 
cause  them  to  warp.  The  first  coat  of  plaster,  called 
the  "scratch  coat"  because  it  is  scratched  or  roughened 
in  order  to  hold  the  next  coat,  should  be  allowed  to 
dry  thoroughly  before  the  second  coat  is  laid  over. 
Much  of  the  falling,  cracking  and  annoyance  with 
plastering  comes  from  the  lack  of  this  precaution. 

The  studs  of  the  outside  wall  should  stand  on  a 
heavy  timber  called  a  sill, 
which  rests  on  top  of  th^e 
cellar  wall.  At  the  top  of  trie 
walls  the  horizontal  piece, 
called  the  plate,  is  placed,  on 
which  rest  the  lower  ends  of 
the  rafters  forming  the  roof 
pieces.  The  rafters  are  cov- 
ered with  boards  and  these 
with  shingles. 


CCD 

SILL  PLACED  ON  WALL. 
a,  Cement;  b.  Anchor  Bolt; 
c,  Sill;  d.  Girder, 


The  girders  are  the  heavy  timbers  set  level  with  the 
beams  of  the  first  floor,  on  which  stand  the  studs  of 
main  interior  partitions. 

Shingle  houses  are  much  in  favor  in  some  localities 
and  make  very  attractive  and  inexpensive  homes. 
Cedar  shingles  "weather"  to  a  grey  tint  that  is  pleasing, 
but  many  prefer  the  brown  or  green  stain.  Shingle 
houses  are  a  little  more  expensive  than  plain  wooden 
ones. 


The  SiH 


Girdera 


Shingled 
House* 


io6 


THE  HOUSE 


Floors 


Windows 


Floors  should  be  of  well-dried,  carefully  selected  ma- 
terial. The  beams  are  usually  two  inches  thick  and  ten 
inches  wide ;  but  if  one  or  two  inches  be  added  to  each 
of  these  dimensions  the  extra  cost  will  add  to  the 
strength  of  the  floor  and  tend  to  prevent  cracks  in 
ceilings  and  walls  due  to  vibrations.  It  is  better  to 
have  the  floor  double  and  to  put  asbestos  paper  or 
salamander  between  the  two  layers.  The  paper  serves 
as  fire  resisting  material  as  well  as  to  deafen  the 
sounds.  The  under  floor  should  be  nailed  diagonally. 
The  baseboards  should  be  set  upon  the  under  floor  if 
the  floors  are  double,  or  tongued  into  the  floor  plank  if 
the  floors  are  single,  to  prevent  the  unsightly  cracks 
that  sometimes  appear  between  the  floor  and  base- 
board. The  sweeping  molding  should  be  convex  so  as 
to  shed  rather  than  retain  dust  and  moisture. 

In  general,  doors  and  windows  should  be  of  a  uni- 
form size  and  height. 

In  a  city  house,  recently,  the  writer  counted  win- 
dows of  nine  different  shapes  and  sizes  on  the  front 
of  a  single  house. 

The  small  leaded  or  colored  glass  window  may  have 
its  place  in  the  dining  room  or  library  where  light  is 
wanted  without  the  view ;  and  the  French  windows 
which  open  like  doors  may  sometimes  be  desirable,  but 
usually  the  ordinary  sized  windows  hung  on  weights 
will  prove  more  practicable  for  the  admission  of  light 
and  better  ac'^pted  to  keep  out  the  storm.  The  writer 
was  impressed  with  the  limitations  of  casement  win- 


CONSTRUCTION 


107 


dows  recently,  when  she  found  herself  in  a  bedroom 
on  the  first  floor  with  two  windows,  one  opening  on 
the  front  porch  of  the  house,  the  other  one  on  the  drive 
way.  The  only  possible  way  of  securing  air  in  the 
bedroom  was  by  opening  a  door,  as  it  were,  to  the 


mmitif'i  >*&£•&£       •i_-4-''  ^*m^        .'      *    ?i»i  i  UE!*-L,  X. 


A  SHINGLED  HOUSE. 


public.  The  problem  was  complicated  by  the  fact  that 
the  host  had  explained  that  bears  frequently  wandered 
about  the  region  after  dark. 

If  sliding  doors-are  used  precautions  should  be  taken 
to  insure  their  moving  easily  when  so  desired.  Closet 
doors  should  never  open  in,  and  bedroom  doors  should  ^ 
be  so  hung  as  to  screen  rather  than  reveal  the  bed. 
Swinging  doors  with  glass  in  them  to  provide  against 
servants  running  imo  each  other,  are  desirable  in 
pantries. 


Doors 


io8 


THE  HOUSE 


Front 
Door 


It  is  desirable  to  have  the  front  door  a  little  larger 
and  heavier  than  other  doors,  with  perhaps  glass  in 
the  upper  half,  but  if  the  glass  extends  below  the  upper 
half,  it  detracts  from  the  sense  of  privacy  desirable  in 
an  outside  door. 

Provision  for  warmth  is  made  by  a  generous  use 
of  building  paper,  back  plastering,  mineral  wool  and 
felt.  Nothing  is  so  good  a 
non-conductor  as  a  dead  air 
space,  so  double  walls  with 
air  space  between  are  of 
special  value  in  this  respect. 
It  seems  almost  criminal 
to  be  careless .  in  the  matter 
of  fire  stops.  Yet  this  is  so 
often  the  case  in  the  ordinary 
house,  often  far  removed 
from  the  help  of  any  fire  de- 
partment. Hollow  partitions, 
open  staircases  and  spaces  in 
side  walls  from  cellar  to  gar- 
ret make  drafts  and  flues  for  carrying  flames.  These 
spaces  should  be  closed  on  each  floor  by  plaster, 
cement,  or  metal  stops.  Metal  lath  for  ceiling,  as- 
bestos or  mineral  wool  between  the  floors,  ordinary 
lime  mortar  are  all  helpful  in  making  a  "slow  burn- 
ing" house. 


FIRE  STOPS  BETWEEN. 
STUDS. 


FLOORS 

Volumes  might  be  written  upon  the  subject  of  floors 
and  their  finishing,  covering  and  care.  Pine,  hard  and 
soft,  maple,  ash,  and  oak  are  the  kinds  of  timber  most 
often  used  in  floors.  Soft  pine  has  the  advantage  of 
being  least  expensive.  Oak  is  by  many  considered  the 
best  wood  for  floor  uses,  particularly  if  it  is  quarter- 
sawn.  All  woods  darken  in  time  if  treated  with  oil. 


Material 


METALLIC  LATF. 

Maple  is  preferred  by  those  who  object  to  the  dark 
floors,  as  the  closeness  of  its  grain  prevents  the  rapid 
absorption  and  consequent  darkening  by  oil.  The 
stained,  painted,  oiled  or  waxed  floor  partly  covered 
by  rugs  is  steadily  growing  in  favor  and  displacing  the 
floor  covered  with  carpet. 

There  is  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  the  finished 
floor.  It  saves  the  tugging  and  pulling  sometimes 
necessary  to  make  the  carpet  fit.  It  simplifies  very 
much  the  problem  of  house  cleaning.  Instead  of  that 
week  or  two  in  the  spring  and  fall  when  all  the  carpets 
were  taken  up,  pounded,  beaten,  stretched  and  pulled 

109 


Advantages 
of  Finished 
Floors 


no  THE  HOUSE 

with  the  resulting  finger  and  back  aches,  with  the  rug 
covered  floor,  the  rugs  are  removed  as  often  as  need 
be,  shaken,  the  floors  wiped  off  with  a  damp  or  oiled 
cloth  and  the  rugs  relaid  with  much  less  expenditure 
oi 'energy.  The  rugs  are  much  lighter  and  easier  to 
handle  and  the  dust  which  accumulates  under  the  ordi- 
nary carpet  is  thus  dispensed  with ;  so  the  rug  covered 
floor  is  apt  to  be  more  sanitary.  Some  people  object 
to  any  bare  floor  where  there  are  children  or  elderly 
people.  This  can  easily  be  obviated  by  the  use  of 
large  rugs  with  borders  of  matting  or  filling. 

No  exact  statistics  can  be  given  as  to  the  compara- 
tive time  required  in  caring  for  a  room  with  waxed 
or  painted  floors  with  rugs,  and  one  covered  with 
carpet.  The  testimony  of  one  woman  who  had  the 
care  of  eight  carpeted  rooms  for  years,  is  given.  After 
one  of  them  had  been  transformed  by  floor  finish  and 
two  rugs,  she  said  that  she  would  rather  care  for 
three  such  rooms  than  one  carpeted  one. 

Kind  of  The  question  as  to  whether  the  finish  shall  be  paint, 
varnish,  shellac  or  wax  must  be  decided  by  the  expense 
and  by  the  use  of  the  rooms.  \Yax  and  varnish  are 
not  desirable  if  the  floor  is  to  be  subjected  to  the  tread 
of  many  dusty  feet.  The  oiled  or  painted  floor  will 
stand  the  wiping  with  the  damp  cloth  to  remove  the 
dust  much  better.  A  little  kerosene  or  milk  added  to 
the  water  used  in  sponging  will  serve  to  brighten  either 
the  paint  or  oil. 


Q 

8s 


a" 

K  6 

a  fc 


FLOORS 


113 


Before  a  floor  is  treated  with  varnish  or  wax,  the 
pores  of  the  porous  woods  are  usually  filled  with  a 
paste  filler,  which  may  be  combined  with  a  stain  if 
other  than  natural  finish  is  desired.  This  treatment 
brings  out  the  grain  of  the  wood  and  prevents  the 
absorption  of  too  much  of  the  more  expensive  finish.- 

Varnished  floors  are  perhaps  easiest  to  keep  clean 
and  when  newly  finished  look  well,  but  they  are  easily 
marred  and  become  unsightly  in  places  where  there  is 
much  wear,  especially  if  the  varnish  is  not  of  the  very 
best  quality.  The  cost  of  the  best  materials  is  small 
in  comparison  to  the  cost  of  labor  in  finishing  floors. 
Refinishing  is  always  an  expensive  process,  so  that  it 
is  economy  to  use  the  best  varnish  obtainable-  Much 
expense  will  be  saved  by  re-varnishing  at  the  first  sign 
of  wear,  for  if  the  surface  becomes  broken,  the  wood 
underneath  absorbs  dirt,  and  scraping  or  planing  may 
be  required  to  remove  it.  It  will  be  found  cheapest 
in  the  end  to  apply  a  thin  coat  once  a  year,  or  oftener 
if  necessary. 

Many  housewives  find  shellaced  floors  easiest  to 
manage.  Shellac  varnish  is  made  by  dissolving  gum 
shellac  in  either  grain  or  wood  alcohol.  The  varnish 
which  one  buys  is  apt  to  be  adulterated  with  cheaper, 
inferior  gums,  so  that  the  surest  way  to  get  pure  var- 
nish is  to  make  it  for  oneself.  The  materials  can  be 
obtained  at  almost  any  drug  store.  To  make  sufficient 
quantity  for  small  repairs,  six  ounces  of  light  yellow 
flake  shellac  may  be  added  to  a  pint  of  alcohol.  The 


Varnished 
Floors 


Shellaced 
Floors 


H4  THE  HOUSE 

gum  will  dissolve  in  about  an  hour  and  make  a  varnish 
of  proper  consistency  for  floors.  It  is  best  to  strain 
the  varnish  through  cheesecloth  before  using.  The 
varnish  will  dry  in  less  than  an  hour  and  makes  a 
very  hard  surface.  All  varnish  should  be  applied  with 
long,  slow  strokes  of  the  brush  and  with  the  grain  of 
the  wood. 

In  repairing  a  varnished  floor  which  has  been  neg- 
lected, the  much  worn,  dark  places  may  be  scrubbed 
with  water  and  a  fine  sand  soap,  like  sapolio,  until 
clean;  then  be  given  a  preliminary  coat  of  varnish,  and 
after  these  places  have  dried,  the  entire  floor  should 
Le  varnished. 

•Waxed          Many   think   that    wax    makes   the    most    desirable 
Floor*      ,i]icj  jastjn£y  floor  finish  for  the  living  rooms.     The  ex- 

o  «-* 

pense  of  this  finish  is  somewhat  more  than  the  varnish 
finish  because  of  the  greater  amount  of  labor  required. 
Clark  in  "The  Care  of  the  House"  recommends  that  a 
new  floor  be  treated  with  two  coats  of  linseed  oil  and 
turpentine  mixed  with  enough  Japan  dryer  to  dry  over 
night.  This  is  put  on  to  prevent  the  floor  from  show- 
ing spots.  \Yhen  this  is  dry.  two  coats  of  floor  wax 
are  applied  and  after  standing  over  night,  rubbed  thor- 
oughly into  the  wood  and  polished  with  a  weighted 
brush  made  for  the  purpose.  A  waxed  floor  should 
be  given  a  new  coat  of  floor  wax  every  year  or  oftener 
in  the  places  subjected  to  hard  wear.  A  floor  so  treat- 
ed will  last  for  a  long  time.  One  objection  to  the 
wax  finish  is  that  water  will  turn  the  coating  white. 


I-LOORS 


The  floor  must  be  cleaned  with  a  dry  cloth  or  mop  or 
one  which  is  only  slightly  damp  and  rubbed  occa- 
sionally with  the  weighted  brush.  If  the  floor  becomes 
spotted  by  water  through  accident,  the  damage  can  be 
repaired  easily  by  applying  a  little  wax  and  rubbing 
with  the  brush.  If  the  floor  becomes  soiled  or  stained 
the  wax  may  be  removed  by  turpentine,  the  spot  treat- 
ed and  the  place  covered  anew  with  wax.  Ink  or  iron 
stains  may  te  removed  with  a  solution  of  oxalic  acid. 

Xo  entirely  satisfactory  finish  for  the  kitchen  floor 
has  yet  been  found.  The  time  honored  way  of  scrub- 
bing with  soap  and  water  makes  the  whitest  and  clean- 
est looking  floor,  it  is  true — but  the  work  required ! 
It  does  not  seem  to  be  an  economic  condition  to  have 
the  floor  cf  .the  work  shop  such  that  nothing  may  fall 
upon  it.  Linseed  oil,  frequently  applied,  makes  a  finish 
in  every  way  good  if  it  were  not  for  the  unsightly  dark- 
ening. When  the  wood  is  thoroughly  filled  with  oil, 
nothing  will  produce  a  spot  on  such  a  floor,  not  even 
grease.  It  may  be  wiped  up  with  a  wet  cloth  but  should 
not  be  scrubbed  with  soap  and  water. 

A  good  grade  of  linoleum  makes  a  floor  covering 
most  easily  cared  for.  \Yhen  this  is  to  be  used  there 
is  no  necessity  of  laying  an  expensive  hard  wood 
floor  in  the  kitchen.  This  does  not  mean,  however,  that 
the  floor  need  not  be  carefully  laid,  for  if  any  of  the 
boards  warp  the  linoleum  will  be  quickly  worn  through 
in  the  raised  parts. 


Kitchen 
Floor 


Linoleum 


n6 


THE  HOUSE 


Oiling 


Expense 
of 

Finished 
Floors 


Comparative 
Cost  of 
Floors 


Fainted 


The  clear  boiled  linseed  oil  is  applied  hot.  The 
first  essential  in  the  care  of  any  finished  floor  is  that 
it  should  be  perfectly  clean  and  dry  before  oil,  wax 
or  varnish  is  applied. 

The  floors  of  pantries,  back  hall  and  stairs  may  well 
be  finished  in  oil. 

The  expense  so  often  urged  against  a  hard  wood 
floor  does  not  seem  to  be  borne  out  by  the  following 
statistics — carpets  to  look  well  must  be  frequently  re- 
moved while  waxed  or  oiled  floors  may  be  kept  in 
order  for  years  with  slight  additional  expense. 

The  utmost  care  should  be  used  in  securing  well 
dried  material  for  floors,  and  eternal  vigilance  is  re- 
quired to  prevent  new  floors  from  being  ruined  by 
careless  workmen  before  the  house  is  finished. 

The  following  table  compiled  from  recent  estimates 
will  answer  some  of  the  questions  concerning  the  cost 
of  new  floors  per  square  foot. 

I.  Cost  of  soft  pine  floor, 

Laid  unfinished   3^2  cents 

Stained  " 


Total  cost  of  floor  4^  cents 

2.  Cost  of  soft  pine  floor, 

Laid  unfinished   3^2  cents 

Painted  two  coats,  cracks  not  put- 


tied 


i1/ 


Total  cost  of  floor  5       cents 


FLOORS 


117 


3.  Cost  of  hard  pine  floor,  011 

Planed  and  scraped   7       cents 

Oiled  with  one  coat  of  hot  linseed 

oil  ys    " 

Total  cost  of  floor 7^  cents 

4.  Cost  of  hard  pine  floor,  shellac 

Planed  and  scraped   7       cents 

Stained  and  two  coats  of  shellac ...  2 

Total  cost  of  floor   9       cents 

5.  Cost  of  soft  pine  floor,  Carpet 

Laid  unfinished 3^/2  cents 

Cost  of  ingrain   carpet  at  65c  per 

yard    . 7.2       " 

Total  cost  of  floor 10.7  cents 

6.  Cost  of  soft  pine  floor,  plain 

Laid  unfinished   3^2  cents          Linoleum 

Cost  of  plain  linoleum  at  65c  per 
yard    7.2       " 

Total  cost  of  floor 10.7  cents 

y.  Cost  of  straight  oak  floor,  Oak 

Planed  and  scraped   9       cents 

Stained,  filled    and    two    coats    of 

shellac  .^A      " 


Total  cost  of  floor nl/2  cents 


THE  HOUSE 


Oak 

and 
Wax 


Brussels 
Carpet 


Inlaid 

Linoleum 


Quartered 
Oak 


8.  Cost  of  straight  oak  floor, 

Planed  and  scraped   9      cents 

Stained,  one  coat    of    shellac    and 
wax    2l/2     " 


Total  cost  of  floor  1 1 1A  cents 

9.  Cost  of  soft  pine  floor, 

Laid  unfinished  3^  cents 

Cost  of  Brussels  carpets  at  8oc  per 
yard   9          " 


Total  cost  of  floor  i2l/2  cents 

10.  Cost  of  snft  pine  floor, 

Laid  unfinished 3^  cents 

Cost  ot  inlaid  linoleum  at  $1.10  per 
yard    12.2       " 


Total  cost  of  floor 15.7  cents 


ii.  Cost  of  quarter  sawed  oak  floor, 

Planeu  and  scraped   14 

Stained,    filled   and    three   coats    of 
varnish   5 


cents 


Total  cost  of  floor 19       cents 

The  above  cost  is  given  in  items  of  sq.  ft.  from 
which  it  is  easy  to  obtain  the  cost  per  sq.  yd.  if  one 
remembers  that  nine  sq.  ft.  make  one  sq.  yd. 

One  or  two  examples  are  worked  out  for  the  sake 


FLOORS  119 

of  comparison.     For  example :  What  is  the  cost  of  the 
floor  in  a  room  15  ft.  square  with 

1.  A  soft  pine  floor  covered  with  ingrain  carpet? 

2.  A  soft  pine  floor  covered  with  Brussels  carpet? 

3.  A  hard  pine  floor,  planed  and  scraped,  with  one 
coat  of  oil  ? 

4.  A  hard  pine  floor  planed,  scraped,   stained  and 
with  two  coats  of  shellac. 

A  room  15  ft.  square  contains  25  sq.  yds. 

The  table  shows  (  Xo.  5)  that  a  soft  pine  floor  with 
ingrain  carpet  costs  10.7  cents  per  sq.  ft.=96.3  cents 
per  sq.  yd. 

25  sq.  yds.  cost  96.3x25=824.075. 

A  room  of  the  same  dimensions  of  soft  pine  covered 
with  Brussels  carpet  (Xo.  9)  costs  $28.125. 

If  the  floor  to  be  of  hard  pine  treated  as  in  No.  3, 
the  cost  will  be  $16.59. 

If  the  floor  be  of  hard  pine  treated  as  No.  4,  the 
cost  will  be  820.25. 

OLD   FLOORS 

Many  people  who  would  be  glad  to  have  the  benefit 
of  the  use  of  rugs,  feel  that  they  cannot  undertake 
either  the  trouble  or  expense  of  having  new  floors  laid. 
For  such  the  following  suggestions,  which  have  been 
carried  out  in  actual  practice,  are  given.  One  woman 
wished  to  make  over  an  old  soft  pine  floor,  but  found 
the  wide  cracks  a  great  detriment.  She  overcame  this 
difficulty  by  stretching  very  tightly  over  the  floor 


I2O 


THE  HOUSE 


Color 


Floor 

Coverings 


strips  of  old  sheeting.  To  this  she  applied  two  coats 
of  paint  and  thus  secured  a  very  satisfactory  "border" 
to  her  room,  the  center  of  which  she  covered  with  a 
rug  made  of  old  ingrain  carpet  which  had  been  ravelled 
out  and  woven  over. 

Another  woman  secured  a  very  good  looking  floor 
from  an  old,  soft  pine  one  with  wide  cracks  by  apply- 
ing first,  a  coat  of  linseed  oil,  after  which  the  cracks 
were  filled  with  a  "crack  and  crevice  filler,"  then  an 
oak  stain  and  two  coats  of  floor  finish  were  used.  The 
wood  work  of  the  floor  was  inconspicuous  because  it 
was  of  the  same  general  tone  as  the  rest  of  the  wood 
work  of  the  room. 

This  treatment  of  the  floor  cost  $5.00  and  the  floor 
is  in  quite  good  condition  after  two  years  constant  use. 

In  treating  an  old  floor  it  is  well  to  avoid  the  use 
of  bright  colored  stains  or  paints  as  such  treatment 
calls  attention  to  the  floors ;  also  very  dark  colors  are 
to  be  avoided  as  they  show  the  dust  more  easily  than 
lighter  colors.  At  the  same  time  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered that  in  the  general  color  scheme  of  the  room, 
the  floors  are  supposed  to  carry  the  deepest  tones,  the 
walls  to  be  lighter  and  the  ceiling  still  lighter.  It  is 
well  if  possible  to  have  the  color  of  the  floor  blend  with 
the  color  of  the  baseboard  and  with  the  border -of  the 
rug. 

The  kinds  of  floor  coverings  now  on  the  market  are 
so  numerous  that  one  can  hardly  fail  to  find  a  suitable- 
one.  Fiber  carpets  and  mattings  of  good  color  and  de- 


FLOORS  121 

sign  can  be  obtained  for  a  comparatively  small  sum. 
Then  there  are  a  great  variety  of  American  rugs. 
The  "Smyrna"  rugs  made  in  Philadelphia  are  very 
satisfactory.  Oriental  rugs  with  their  beautiful  dura- 
ble colors  are  a  constant  source  of  pleasure.  It  ought 
to  be  remembered  in  selecting  any  floor  covering  that 
the  walls  and  floors  are  to  be  a  background  for  the 
other  furnishing.  Therefore,  patterns  and  colors  that 
"rise  up  and  hit  you,"  startling  colors,  immense  bou- 
quets and  in  general  large  designs  are  to  be  avoided. 
Bright  colors  in  a  small  pattern  or  a  conventional  de- 
sign make  a  much  better  background. 


DECORATION  AND   FURNISHING 

No  problems  of  household  management  are  perhaps 
more  trying  to  the  average  woman  than  those  of  deco- 
ration and  furnishing.  '  The  daily  paper  will  provide 
her  with  menus  for  every  day  in  the  week,  with  direc- 
tions for  the  preparation  and  the  service  of  the  food. 
The  current  magazine  will  give  her  numerous  sugges- 
tions for  her  clothing,  but  she  finds  fewer  helps  in  the 
line  of  decoration  and  feels  a  greater  need  for  assist- 
ance there. 

The  subject  is  a  large  one.  Let  us  begin  with  some 
questions. 

\Yhat  does  decorate  mean  ?  To  embellish  ;  to  adorn. 
The  savage  decorates  his  body  with  paint ;  his  tools  by 
carving  them.  The  child  easily  learns  to  say  "pretty,'7 
"pretty ;''  and  the  woman  tries  to  express  her  sense  of 
beauty  in  her  house  furnishings.  \Yhy  does  she  so 
often  fail  ?  Usually  for  one  of  three  reasons,  viz. : 
(i)  Because  of  a  lack  of  trained  color  sense;  (2)  Be- 
cause she  overlooked  the  law  of  appropriateness;  (3) 
Because  of  the  lack  of  means.  But  no  amount  of 
money  can  compensate  for  the  failure  to  appreciate  the 
value  of  color  and  appropriateness. 

The  definition  of  decoration  sometimes  leads  one 
astray  by  giving  the  impression  that  decoration  applies 
to  something  added  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
original  construction,  while  the  truth  .  is  that  good 
decoration  in  houses  has  its  beginning  in  good  archi- 
tecture and  that  a  room  which  has  good  lines  and  good 

123 


Decoration 

Defined 


Proportion 


124  THE  HOUSE 

proportions  will  require  less  decoration  and  look  much 
better  than  one  not  so  constructed. 

Color  A  trained  color  sense  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  acquire ; 
it  is  born  of  association  with  the  beautiful,  and  some 
people's  opportunity  for  seeing  the  beautiful  creations 
in  the  way  of  art  treasures  and  good  architecture  has 
been  limited. 

However,  one  should  not  be  discouraged.  Nature 
shows  us  beautiful  things  in  form  and  color,  so  most 
of  us  have  access  to  at  least  one  great  teacher.  More- 
over, the  world  is  waking  up  to  the  pleasure  and  profit 
to  be  found  in  developing  the  artistic  instinct.  Copies 
of  the  really  good  pictures  of  the  world  are  being  made 
for  moderate  prices.  The  school  children  are  being 
trained  in  form  and  color,  and  William  Morris's  defini- 
tion of  decoration,  "To  give  people  pleasure  in  the 
things  they  must  perforce  use ;  that  is  the  one  great 
office  of  decoration.  To  give  people  pleasure  in  the 
things  they  must  perforce  make;  that  is  the  other  use 
of  it",  is  being  appreciated  more  and  more. 
ad  Where  then  shall  the  decoration  begin?  With  the 
lines  of  the  room.  If  the  house  be  new,  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  builder  has  realized  the  truth  of  the 
statement,  "Proportion  is  the  good  breeding  of  Archi- 
tecture". If  the  room  is  not  in  right  proportion,  oeco 
ration  should  begin  in  the  consideration  of  what  may 
be  done  to  make  the  lines  of  the  room  good.  If  the 
ceiling  be  too  high,  the  effect  of  lowering  it  may  be 
given  by  allowing  the  ceiling  paper  (or  calcimine)  to 


DECORATION  125 

extend  a  foot  or  more  on  the  side  wall.  The  picture 
molding  may  be  put  on  where  the  ceiling  paper  meets 
that  of  the  side  wall.  If  the  pictures  are  hung  from 
this  molding  and  brought  down  to  the  level  of  the  eyes, 
one  is  helped  to  the  impression  that  the  molding  marks 
the  line  of  the  ceiling.  "Skied"  pictures  that  one  must 
stretch  one's  neck  to  see  are  never  decorative.  A  wain- 
scoting and  frieze  help  greatly  in  breaking  up  a  high 
side  wall. 

Again,  if  the  ceiling  be  low  a  striped  paper,  where 
stripes  extend  from  baseboard  to  ceiling,  will  make  the      ceiling 
ceiling  appear  higher  than  it  really  is. 

The  apparent  height  of  windows  may  be  changed  by 
their  drapery. 

The  opening  of  a  door  in  the  opposite  way  or  the      Wall 
closing  up  of  it  altogether,  may  materially  improve  the      spacing: 
wall  spacing  of  the  room. 

After  lines  and  proportion  comes  color,  and  here  one 

Colo: 

meets  many  difficulties  because  so  many  factors  enter 
into  the  problem.  The  quantity  and  quality  of  light  that 
enters  the  room,  the  use  of  the  room,  the  ''livable- 
ness"  of  the  color,  all  are  to  be  considered.  For  ex- 
ample, a  pink  or  lavender  ribbon  may  give  just  the 
finishing  touch  to  a  young  girl  in  a  white  muslin  dress, 
but  a  living  room  in  pink  or  lavender  may  prove 
something  of  an  undertaking  "to  live  up  to"  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  days  in  the  year.  The  psychology 
and  physics  of  color  are  not  easily  given  in  set  for- 
mulae. A  few  general  principles  may  prove  helpful. 


126 


THE  HOUSE 


White 
Light 


Complementary 
Colors 


Harmony 


White  light  may  be  separated  into  what  are  known 
as  the  seven  primary  colors,  red,  orange,  yellow,  green, 
blue,  indigo  and  violet,  although  there  are  a  great  num- 
ber of  different  shades  of  these  colors.  In  a  stricter 
sense  red,  green  and  blue  are  the  primary  colors  be- 
cause they  can  not  be  resolved  into  any  others. 

Complementary  colors  are  those  colors  which  when 
combined  produce  white  light.  Rood  in  his  "Text- 
book of  Colors"  gives  the  following  Table  of  Com- 
plementary Colors : 

Red  Green  blue. 

Orange Cyanogen  blue. 

Yellow Ultramarine  blue. 

Greenish  yellow Violet. 

Green   Purple. 

A  knowledge  of  complementary  colors  is  important 
because  these  colors  furnish  the  strongest  contrasts. 
Again  there  are  the  "cool"  colors — blues  in  various 
grades,  grays,  apple  green ;  warm  colors  are  reds, 
golden  browns  or  pure  gold,  olive  green.  Colors  are 
also  classified  as  grave,  gay  or  somber. 

Harmony  and  appropriateness  are  to  be  carefully 
watched  in  the  selection  of  color  schemes.  Harmony  is 
secured  by  the  skillful  blending  of  colors  of  somewhat 
the  same  tone.  Contrasting  colors  emphasize  each 
other  and  should  be  used  with  care.  For  example,  in 
a  room  in  which  the  walls  are  colored  bright  red  and 
the  floor  covered  with  a  bright  green  rug,  the  contrast 
between  the  two  colors  will  make  both  stand  out  more 


DECORATION  127 

plainly.  Where  the  background  of  floor  and  walls  is 
so  striking  it  is  difficult  to  have  the  furnishings  blend 
with  the  colors  already  present.  In  simple  furnishing 
it  is  better  to  choose  some  one  prevailing  color  as  the 
predominant  one  rather  than  two  contrasting  ones. 

The  quantity  and  quality  of  light  which  enters  the      Color 

&nd 

room  will  prove  a  potent  factor  in  selecting  its  color  Lighting 
schemes.  A  room  with  a  southern  or  western  ex- 
posure is  likely  to  be  well  supplied  with  brightness  and 
sunshine  and  needs  to  have  its  brightness  modified  by 
cool  blues  or  greens,  so  a  west  dining  room  in  red  is 
apt  to  seem  too  warm  most  of  the  year,  while  a  sunless 
north  room  needs  the  yellow  and  gold  to  be  brought 
to  it  in  the  colors  of  its  walls  and  draperies.  Golden 
browns  and  rich  reds  have  their  place  in  such  rooms. 

One  more  principle  is  of  universal  application  in  the  Principle 
consideration  of  color  effects.  It  is  known  as  the  prin-  Gradation 
ciple  of  gradation.  According  to  it  the  strongest  tones 
of  color  belong  at  the  base.  In  a  room  the  floor  serves 
as  the  base  in  any  scheme  of  decoration.  The  floor 
covering,  therefore,  should  carry  the  strongest  tones, 
the  walls  should  represent  the  next  lighter  tone  and 
the  ceiling  the  last  step  in  the  gradation.  This  does 
not  imply  any  fixed  line  of  demarcation  for  the  varying 
tones.  It  is  rather  the  statement  of  a  general  relation 
that  is  to  be  maintained  among  the  various  parts.  The 
floors,  walls  and  ceiling  should  sustain  a  certain  rela- 
tion to  each  other,  while  they  are  the  setting  for  the 
furnishings.  The  application  of  this  principle  forbids 


128 


THE  HOUSE 


Appropriate- 
ness 


Relation 
of  Booms 


the  use  of  light  gray  paint  for  the  floor  with  cbep  blue 
walls  and  ceiling,  though  blue  and  gray  in  some  com- 
binations might  be  most  desirable. 

The  law  of  appropriateness  if  practiced  would  re- 
move many  things  from  our  homes ;  the  spider  web 
tidies  that  protect  nothing,  the  gilded  spoon  tied  with 
a  ribbon  and  hung  in  the  parlor,  the  brie  a  brae  from 
the  sitting  room  mantel  that  must  be  dusted  every  day, 
the  meaningless  pictures,  the  very  light  and  delicately 
upholstered  chair  from  the  sitting  room,  the  pitcher 
that  will  not  pour  from  the  dining  room.  It  would  ex- 
change this  rubbish  for  one  beautiful  picture,  or  com- 
fortable chair,  or  a  table  that  will  hold  something  and 
thus  add  simplicity  and  comfort  to  the  house. 

Diamonds  are  always  valuable  and  beautiful  but 
they  are  not  the  proper  accompaniment  of  morning 
dresses.  They  show  to  better  advantage  among  velvet 
and  laces;  so  velvet  carpets  and  real  lace  curtains  are 
not  to  be  expected  in  the  living  room. 

Rooms  must  be  considered  not  only  as  individual 
rooms  but  in  their  relation  to  the  other  parts  of  the 
house,  if  one  would  have  the  house  a  harmonious 
whole.  To  this  end  sharp  contrasts  in  size  of  rooms, 
color  and  furnishings  are  to  be  avoided.  One  should 
not  be  ushered  from  a  bright  green  parlor  with  hand- 
some mahogany  furniture  to  a  dull  and  faded  sitting 
room  with  the  cast  off  and  worn  out  parlor  furniture. 
Such  contrasts  show  that  emphasis  is  put  upon  display 
rather  than  comfort  in  the  house.  Bright  green  is 


DECORATION 


129 


rarely  if  ever  a  suitable  color  for  a  wall,  and  half  worn, 
cast  off  furniture  is  neither  useful  nor  beautiful  any- 
where. 

Design  is  another  important  factor  in  decoration,  as 
is  also  the  kind  of  material. 

PRINCIPLES  OF  SELECTION 

Certain  general  principles  apply  in  the  selection  of 
decoration  and  furnishings.  Avoid  pretentious  things. 
If  real  lace  cannot  be  afforded,  sham  lace  ought  not  to 
be  allowed.  Muslin  curtains  are  better  adapted  to  the 
purpose  and  much  prettier  than  sham  lace  ones.  Get 
simple  things,  few  things,  durable  things  and  such  as 
will  harmonize  with  many  others.  Avoid  the  unusual ; 
chairs  with  impossible  twists  in  their  legs ;  tables  with 
glass  and  brass  feet ;  settees,  whose  arms  are  "deco- 
rated" with  hearts  set  on  at  irregular  intervals  and 
whose  backs  are  "finished"  with  marvelous  clusters  of 
grapes  glued  on.  These  and  their  kind  make  a  room 
a  museum  for  the  keeping  of  curios  rather  than  a  place 
of  rest  and  beauty. 

One  should  have  a  definite  plan  in  mind  for  the 
decoration  and  furnishing  of  the  whole  house  before 
it  is  begun.  Possibly  only  the  color  scheme  for  the 
walls  can  be  realized  the  first  year  with  a  few  pieces 
of  good  furniture,  but  these  will  be  a  pleasure  because 
of  the  simplicity,  harmony  and  comfort  which  they  af- 
ford. Styles  in  furnishing  vary  ;  but  good  colors,  good 
designs  and  appropriate  furnishings  are  always  in 
fashion  and  a  satisfaction. 


Avoid  the 
Pretentious 
;,  nd  Unusual 


Definite 
?lan 


130 


THE  HOUSE 


ROOMS 

Perhaps  a  few  concrete  examples  may  help  in  the 
application  of  these  principles  of  decoration.  Let  us 
begin  with  the  vestibule — Certain  additional  principles 
apply  in  the  selection  of  all  furnishings,  (i)  The  pur- 
pose of  the  room;  (2)  Its  size;  (3)  The  use  of  the 
article.  These  furnishings  should  be  adapted  to  the 

Vestibule  purposes  of  a  room  so  exposed  as  a  vestibule.  The 
floor  coloring  should  be  the  deepest ;  a  suitable  grada- 
tion would  leave  the  walls  of  a  lighter  tone  with  the 
ceiling  still  lighter.  The  amount  of  light  will  influence 
the  color.  The  vestibule  is  not  likely  to  be  too  well 
lighted,  and  therefore  dull  and  dark  colors  are  to  be 
avoided.  Pompeian  red,  or  tints  of  brown  correspond- 
ing with  the  natural  finish  of  the  wood  are  desirable. 
The  floor  of  the  vestibule  should  be  tile  or  linoleum 
that  it  may  be  easily  cleaned.  Owing  to  the  effect 
that  the  weather  may  have  upon  the  paper  some  prefer 
the  use  of  rough  plaster  or  paint.  The  window  hang- 
ings should  be  of  some  washable  material.  The  en- 
trance is  to  shut  out  the  world  and  at  the  same  time 
serve  as  a  pleasant  introduction  to  the  brightness  and 
cheer  within.  Dunable,  substantial,  and  pleasing  ef- 
fects are  to  be  sought  in  its  furnishings. 

The  Hail  In  the  hall  proper  the  same  rules  as  to  gradation  of 
color  hold.  It  is  safer  and  better,  if  one  is  somewhat 
of  a  novice  in  the  selection  of  color,  to  choose  some  one 
prevailing  tone  for  the  hall  and  the  rooms  that  open 
from  the  hall  in  order  to  avoid  a  striking  contrast, 


DECORATION  131 

and  trust  to  relieve  the  monotony  by  a  difference  in 
the  principal  colors  in  the  rugs.  A  grey  green  makes 
a  comfortable  color  to  live  with,  and  the  halls  and 
rooms  opening  from  it  may  have  papers  in  which 
these  colors  predominate ;  varying  shades  of  reds  and 
browns  may  be  used  in  the  rugs. 

In  wall  coverings  one  has  the  choice  of  many  ma-  wail 
terials,  calsomine,  papers  of  many  kinds,  grass  cloth, 
burlap  and  its  near  relative  fabrikona.  The  list  as 
given  indicates  in  a  measure  the  scale  of  cost.  Plain 
papers  have  their  use  and  their  abuse.  A  plain  paper 
makes  a  good  background  for  pictures  and  is  less  likely  9 
to  introduce  elements  that  are  at  war  with  the  other 
furnishings.  On  the  other  hand  too  liberal  a  use  of  it 
in  a  house  tends  to  monotony.  Very  good  patterns 
may  be  found  in  two-toned  papers.  Of  a  given  sum  of 
money  to  be  expended  in  wall  covering,  some  prefer 
to  use  elaborate  and  expensive  Morris  or  Crane  papers 
and  to  omit  all  the  pictures. 

Grass  cloth  makes  satisfactory  hanging.  Its  slightly 
uneven  surface  gives  pleasing  effects  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  light  and  shades.  ,Burlap  and  fabrikona  are 
more  expensive  but  they  can  be  painted  and  so  re- 
newed. Both  give  a  somewhat  severe  and  substantial 
air  to  a  room.  Too  much  of  them  in  a  small  house 
gives  a  somewhat  heavy  effect.  They  are,  perhaps, 
most  suitable  for  library  and  dining  room. 


FURNISHINGS  133 

A  two-toned  green  paper  with  a  cream  ceiling, 
weathered  oak  furniture  and  wood  work,  with  Oriental 
rugs  or  American  ones  in  shades  of  browns  and  a  little 
red,  make  a  satisfactory  living  room.  Or  one  may  use 
the  copper  brown  tints  for  the  walls  with  blues,  browns 
and  reds  in  the  rugs.  However,  blue  is  likely  to  show 
soil  and  wear  more  easily  than  either  browns  or  reds. 
Morris's  words,  "Have  nothing  in  your  house  that  you 
do  not  know  to  be  useful  or  believe  to  be  beautiful", 
finds  especial  application  in  the  sitting  room.  Where 
so  many  tastes  are  to  be  considered  as  in  the  family 
living  room  one  can  hardly  hope  for  great  beauty, 
but  there  should  be  harmony,  comfort,  and  restfulness 
suggested  by  all  the  furnishing  as  well  as  durability 
and  appropriateness.  Chairs  that  do  not  tip  over 
easily ;  tables  that  will  hold  the  lamp,  books  and  maga- 
zines and  leave  a  little  extra  space  are  quite  necessary 
here.  Draperies  and  brie  a  brae  should  be  conspicuous 
by  their  absence ;  a  beruffled  lamp  and  a  bedecked  sofa 
cushion  are  alike  undesirable.  A  good  light  and  com- 
fortable chairs  are  essentials. 

The  furnishings  of  the  parlor  are  best  characterized  The 
as  delicate.  Some  one  has  said  it  corresponds  to  the 
afternoon  tea  toilet  of  the  family.  Whatever  of  ele- 
gance the  family  wishes  to  show  will  find  its  place 
here.  Old  rose  or  blues  make  a  good  background  for 
the  delicately  upholstered  furniture,  the  rare  vase  or 
bit  of  favrile  glass.  Oriental  rugs  with  their  mellowed 
tones  will  harmonize  with  almost  any  color. 


FURNISHINGS 


135 


The  dining  room  requires  little  furniture  besides  the 
table,  chairs  and  china  which  are  its  essentials.  Soft 
yellow  walls,  mahogany  furniture,  ivory  white  paint 
and  net  curtains  make  a  pleasing  combination.  Soma 
prefer  the  Delft  blue  with  cream  ceiling,  oak  furniture 
and  the  Delft  china  displayed  on  the  plate  rail.  The 
plate  rail  is  a  somewhat  questionable  feature,  as  some- 
times used  with  a  motley  collection  of  old  ugly  china 
covered  with  dust,  it  is  far  from  decorative.  A  side- 
board on  which  a  few  good  pieces  are  displayed  at  one 
time  is  likely  to  be  more  truly  decorative,  and  a  china 
closet  built  in,  more  useful. 

Leather  bottomed  chairs  are  a  desirable  addition  to  a 
dining  room,  and  burlaps  may  be  used  very  success- 
fully on  its  walls. 

The  kitchen  furnishings  should  be  such  as  can  be 
kept  clean  easily.  Linoleum  seems  to  have  the  prefer- 
ence* as  a  floor  covering.  Tiles  are  expensive,  hard 
for  those  who  must  walk  over  them  constantly  and  a 
hard  wood  floor  is  more  difficult  to  keep  in  order  than 
linoleum.  A  good  piece  of  linoleum  will  last  for  years 
and  its  use  dispenses  with  the  scrubbing  which  takes 
so  much  time  and  energy.  If  the  worker  is  careful 
to  wipe  up  the  spots  immediately,  the  care  of  the 
kitchen  floor  is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

In  wall  coverings,  one  has  the  choice  of  paper,  cal- 
somine,  paint,  enamel  paper  or  oilcloth.  Paint  some- 
times scales  and  its  continuous  use  necessitates  a  num- 
ber of  coats  which  must  finally  be  removed  and  this  is 


The 

Dining: 

Room 


FURNISHINGS 


137 


a  somewhat  tedious  and  expensive  process.  Paper 
must  be  frequently  renewed,  the  enameled  paper  is 
quite  durable  and  can  be  wiped  with  a  damp  cloth; 
oilcloth  stands  this  treatment  still  better,  and  for  the 
woman  who  does  her  own  work  and  does  not  wish 
to  calsomine  or  paper  her  kitchen  every  season,  it  is 
perhaps  the  most  satisfactory  wall  covering  and  it  may 
be  obtained  in  very  attractive  patterns  and  colors.  Un- 
der present  circumstances  the  kitchen  may  be  a  very 
attractive  room  and  color  schemes  are  as  effective  here 
as  anywhere. 

One  feels  inclined  to  turn  aside  for  a  moment  from 
the  purely  decorative  effects  in  the  kitchen  furnishing 
to  plead  for  a  careful  placing  of  the  essential  furnish- 
ings, range,  sink  and  work  table,  so  as  to  keep  the 
working  space  within  small  compass.  The  height  of 
these  same  articles  plays  no  small  part  in  the  comfort 
of  the  workers.  Most  kitchen  sinks  are  too  low,  and 
however  much  the  plumbers  may  insist  that  it  is  the 
"regular  height",  the  mistress  should  see  to  it  that  it 
is  made  the  height  she  finds  convenient.  It  is  a  great 
waste  of  energy  to  be  obliged  to  bend  double  in  so 
simple  a  process  as  dish-wrashing. 

The  sink  should  be  ample  in  size  and  the  faucets 
set  well  up  and  back.  Breakage  is  much  more  apt- to 
occur  in  a  narrow  sink  than  in  a  broad  one. 

The  bedroom  is  the  place  for  individual  expression 
such  as  is  not  attainable  in  the  family  room.  The  first 
requirement  is  a  good  bed ;  be  the  mattress  hair,  wool, 


Placing 

of 

Fixtures 


The 
Bedrooms 


138  THE  HOUSE 

cotton  or  husk,  it  should  be  the  best  of  its  kind.  Many 
Mattress  people  have  a  wrong  sense  of  values  in  regard  to 
bedroom  furnishings.  Much  too  large  a  proportion 
of  the  total  expenditure  goes  for  something  other  than 
the  mattress,  and  yet  one-third  of  a  life  is  to  be  spent 
on  the  bed,  so  the  mattress  and  springs  should  have 
the  first  consideration.  A  hard  wood  floor  and  a  rug 
or  two  help  to  the  simplicity  which  aids  restfulness 
and  to  the  cleanliness  which  is  one  of  the  most  desirable 
elements  in  bedroom  furnishings.  Here  is  a  chance  for 
dainty  belongings,  for  light  and  airy  wall  papers, — cool 
blues,  greens  and  pinks — not  with  fantastic  figures  that 
dizzy  and  perplex  by  their  intricacies.  The  bedroom  is 
not  to  be  a  sitting  room,  but  a  sleeping  room  with  per- 
haps an  easy  chair  and  one  or  two  favorite  books,  be- 
side the  mirror  and  drawers  in  dresser  or  chiffonier. 
The  bath  room  may  relieve  the  necessity  for  a  wash 
stand  and  thus  save  the  trouble  of  caring  for  the  articles 
it  requires. 

Bedroom         One  has  a  large  opportunity  for  choice  in  the  mat- 
Covering      ter  of  suitable  bedroom  floor  coverings — mattings  in 
great  variety,  fiber  carpets,  Berea  rugs  or  the  more 
expensive  ones. 

A  very  attractive  bedroom  can  be  made  with  white 
enamel  paint,  white  iron  bedstead  and  the  Japanese 
matting  with  its  blue  figures  and  a  blue  rug.  An  old 
dresser  may  be  quite  transformed  by  a  coat  or  two  of 
white  paint.  Rattan  chairs  because  of  their  lightness 
make  good  bedroom  chairs 


DRAPERIES  139 

The  bathroom  is  one  of  the  most  useful  rooms  of      The 

Bathroom 

the  house  and  can  easily  be  one  of  the  most  attractive. 
Good  plumbing,  a  commodious  tub  and  a  stationary 
wash  stand  are  its  most  attractive  furnishings.  A 
hard  wood  or  tile  floor  with  a  small  rug,  a  wainscot- 
ing of  wood,  tile,  or  cement  made  to  resemble  tile, 
with  paint  or  oilcloth  above,  give  a  good  setting  for 
the  necessary  fixtures.  A  small  cupboard  for  the 
bathroom  accessories,  a  larger  one  for  the  towels,  a 
washable  curtain,  a  good  mirror  and  a  towel  rack 
complete  the  list  of  essentials.  A  desirable  addition 
is  the  chute,  by  which  the  soiled  clothes  may  be  sent 
down  to  the  laundry.  Some  very  ugly  bathrooms 
have  been  transformed  by  a  generous  use  of  white 
paint  and  enamel. 

DRAPERIES 

A  word  should  be  said  in  this  connection  regard-  color 
ing  draperies  for  they  have  a  potent  influence  in  mak- 
ing or  marring  the  artistic  effect  of  the  room.  If  of 
the  right  color  and  suitable  material  they  add  much 
to  the  attractiveness  of  the  room.  A  beautiful  por- 
tiere may  serve  as  a  picture  in  giving  color  and  bright- 
ness to  a  dull  room.  In  general  their  color  should 
follow  that  of  the  walls.  In  order  to  give  variety,  if 
the  walls  are  plain  the  curtain  should  be  figured ; 
while  if  the  walls  are  covered  with  figured  paper  the 
curtain  gives  variety  by  plainness. 


DRAPERIES 


141 


The  law  of  appropriateness  should  be  observed  in 
regard  to  window  hangings.  Curtains  do  soften  the 
lines  and  take  away  the  bareness  and  stiffness  from 
the  room,  but  that  fact  does  not  make  it  desirable  to 
have  a  double  set  of  draperies  in  a  living  room.  The 
family  need  the  light,  air,  and  sunshine  which  the 
hangings,  particularly  if  they  are  heavy,  shut  out. 
We  forget  that  the  heavy  hangings  were  used  origi- 
nally for  the  purpose  of  keeping  out  the  wind  and  rain 
which  entered  through  the  openings  cut  in  the  walls  of 
the  castle. 

Texture  and  quality  are  important  factors  in  select- 
ing draperies.  Silk  lends  itself  most  easily  to  grace- 
ful folds,  and  wool  conies  next,  but  alas !  woolen  stuffs 
are  a  favorite  haunt  for  moths.  This  leaves  cotton 
and  linen  for  inexpensive  hangings  and  there  is  a 
large  list  from  which  to  choose ;  chintzes,  lawns,  mus- 
lins, cretonnes,  denims,  Madras,  hop-sacking  and 
countless  others.  Chintzes  have  a  large  use  in  bed- 
rooms and  in  summer  houses.  Denim  is  very  much 
prized  by  some — in  indigo  blue  it  is  apt  to  hold  its 
color  well ;  that  and  Turkey  red  are  the  two  colors 
which  are  most  nearly  "fast"  in  cotton  stuffs.  Madras 
makes  very  pretty  and  effective  curtains  for  those 
who  are  not  so  old-fashioned  as  to  feel  that  nothing 
is  quite  so  satisfactory  as  white.  The  fading  of  most 
of  the  cotton  stuffs  is  a  serious  objection  to  their  use. 
Mrs.  Wheeler  says  in  "Principles  of  Home  Decora- 
tion" :  "There  is  a  place  waiting  in  the  world  of  art 


Appropriate- 
ness 


Texture 


- 

- 


A 
Hissing: 

Textile 


144 


THE  HOUSE 


and  decoration  for  what  in  my  own  mind  I  call  the  miss- 
ing textile.  This  is  by  no  means  a  fabric  of  cost,  for 
among  its  other  virtues  it  must  possess  that  of  cheap- 
ness. To  meet  an  almost  universal  want  it  should 


Governor  Carver's  Chair. 


Elder  Bewster's  Chair. 


EXAMPLES  OP  TURNED  CHAIRS. 

combine  inexpensiveness,  durability,  softness,  and  ab- 
solute fidelity  of  color,  and  these  four  qualities  are 
not  to  be  found  in  any  existing  textile". 


FURNITUk^ 

Draperies,  furnishings  and  furniture  are  so  closely 
related  and  so  integral  a  part  of  decoration  that  it  is 
difficult  to  tell  in  what  order  they  should  be  consid- 
ered. 

We  have  treated  of  the  wall  and  floor  coverings 
first  and  left  the  separate  pieces  of  furniture  to  the 
last  on  the  supposition  that  in  the  furnishing  of  the 
new  house  that  might  be  the  order  observed.  One 
safe  principle  should  guide  in  the  buying  of  furni- 
ture,— avoid  getting  too  many  things.  The  average 
houses  are  crowded  with  pieces  of  furniture  which 
serve  no  definite  purpose  and  take  space  that  could 
be  better  used. 

Helen  Campbell  in  "Household  Economics",  says : 
"This  reasoning  holds  good  for  every  article  of  furni- 
ture ;  first,  its  use  to  man  ;  second,  its  own  laws  of 
construction ;  third,  its  relation  to  the  thousand  needs 
of  household  life". 

Our  early  models  in  furniture  as  in  architecture 
were  English.  To  them  we  are  indebted  for  the  de- 
signs which  served  as  models  for  New  England  cab- 
inet makers. 

Out  of  the  number  of  forms  we  select  various  styles 
of  chairs  as  illustrating  the  types  of  furniture.  Frances 
Clary  Morse  says  in  "Furniture  of  the  Olden  Times" : 
"Forms  and  stools  were  used  for  seats  in  the  six- 
teenth and  early  seventeenth  centuries  and  inventories 
of  wealthy  men  do  not  often  contain  more  than  one 

145 


146  THE  HOUSE 

or  two  chairs".     Thrown   or  turned   chairs   were  in 

use    then 

English          Three  of  the  best  known  English  chair  makers  of 
Makers     the    eighteenth    century    were    Chippendale,    Hepple- 


CHIPPENDALE  AKM  CHAIRS 

From  Furniture  of  the  Olden  Times,  by  Alice  Carey  Morse.    Macmillan  & 
Co.,  Publishers. 

white  and  Sheraton.  Chippendale  seemed  to  have 
borrowed  his  ideas  from  the  French  in  the  way  of 
ornamentation,  though  the  form  is  developed  from  the 
Dutch  style  and  the  legs  adapted  from  Chinese  furni- 
ture. He  seems  to  have  preferred  the  French  scroll 
foot.  A  distinguishing  characteristic  is  the  bow  form 


FURNITURE 


147 


at  the  top  of  the  back ;  elaborate  carving  and  fine  pro- 
portion are  his  also. 

Hepplewhite    followed    Chippendale.     The   Hepple- 
\vhite  chairs  are  characterized  by  lightness.     He  used 
both    carving    and    inlaying. 
The    heart,    oval,    or    shield 

shape  back  distinguishes  these  ^-_,..  \$fr.m^^ 

chairs.     A  specialty  of  Hep-  af ./  ,_ 

pie  white    was    to    finish    the  V^- 

chair   backs  •  with   painted   or 
japanned  work. 

Hepplewhite  was  followed 
by  Sheraton,  whose  chairs  re- 
tained many  of  the  features 
of  Hepplewhite's,  but  he 
sought  to  strengthen  the 
chairs  by  a  different  construc- 
tion of  the  back.  He  made 
the  back  rectangular  in  shape. 
The  splats  end  in  a  rail  which 
crosses  the  back  a  few  inches 
above  the  seat. 

The  Windsor  is  another  familiar  type  of  chair 
which  made  its  appearance  in  this  country  about  1730. 
Originally  the  Windsor  chairs  were  painted  green. 
The  comb  back  Windsor  chair  illustrated  is  a  Windsor 
writing  chair  said  to  have  belonged  to  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son. 


CHIPPEXDALE  CHAIR 
WrITH  LEATHER  SEAT. 


Hepplewhite 


Windsor 
Chairs 


148 


THE  HOUSE 


Mission 
and 

Morris 
Furniture 


HEPPLEWHITE  CHAIRS. 

With  these  types  which 
show  so  much  of  beauty  and 
grace  of  proportion  may  be 
contrasted  our  modern  "Mis- 
sion" furniture,  where 
strength  seems  often  to  have 
been  exaggerated  to  clumsi- 
ness. The  original  Morris 
furniture,  bearing  that  name, 
is  said  to  have  been  much 
lighter  than  the  heavy  pieces 
now  found  in  the  market. 

Good    lines,    simplicity    of 

,,  ARM  CHAIR 

construction,  strength  ana  ap-   From  Fttrniture  of  the  Oiden  nmes. 


FURNITURE 


149 


SHERATON  PAINTED 

CHAIR. 
From  Furniture  of  Olden  Times. 


SHERATON  CHAIRS. 


propriateness  make  for  beauty 
in  furniture  as  well  as  in 
architecture.  The  fashion 
swung  from  the  gilt  and  gold 
chair,  too  ornamental  for  use 
and  too  poorly  constructed  to 
bear  the  weight  of  any  human 
body  except  that  of  a  child, 
to  the  other  extreme  of  heavy 
"substantial"  furniture,  about 
as  immovable  and  decorative 
as  a  log.  Fortunately  we  are 
in  a  saner  mood  at  present 
and  are  conscious  of  the  fact 
that  it  is  not  only  desirable 
but  quite  necessary  that  fur- 


simplicity 


Parlor 
"Sets" 


ISO 


THE  HOUSE 


niture  be  movable.  Another  delusion  that  is  passing, 
too — may  it  continue  to  pass — is  the  fashion  of  "sets." 
Often  these  three-piece  and  six-piece  sets  were  a  device 


WINDSOR  CHAIRS. 


Wholesome- 
ness  and 
Beauty 


for  using  up  the  remnants  of  upholstery  and  were  often 
at  variance  with  each  other  in  regard  to  color.  Many 
a  misguided  individual  has  bought  two  pieces  of  un- 
desirable furniture  with  the  one  piece  which  really 
sold  the  "set." 

But  a  better  day  is  dawning.     The  public  taste  is 


FURNITURE 


demanding  things  that  have  more  real  elements  of 
beauty.  Henderson's  words  find  a  response  in  many 
minds.  He  says, 
"One  must  sur- 
round one's  self 
with  wholesome- 
ness  and  beauty. 
This  parallelism 
between  con- 
sciousness and 
nature  makes  this 
insistence  upon 
convenience  of 
arrangement  and 
respect  for  form 
and  color  more 
than  a  matter  of 
taste.  It  makes 
it  a  matter  of 
moral  obligation. 
A  man's  surroundings  are  not  accidental.  They  are  a 
part  of  himself  and  must  likewise  be  chastened  and 
purified.  An  ugly  room,  badly  lighted,  poorly  ven- 
tilated, inadequately  heated,  must  be  regarded  as 
morally  reprehensible  whether  provided  for  one's  self 
or  for  somebody  else.  It  is  the  projection  of  an  evil 
thought  and,  entering  into  consciousness,  lowers  the 
level  of  human  life." 


Comb  Back  Windsor  Chair  of  Thomas 
Jefferson. 


CARE  OF  THE  HOUSE 


Changes 


More 

Windows 


New 
Wall  Paper 


However  carefully  a  house  may  have  been  planned 
it  is  indeed  rare  that  the  result  is  perfect.  Very  many 
have  not  even  the  opportunity  to  plan  for  themselves 
and  either  buy  houses  built  for  others  or  are  compelled 
by  circumstances  to  live  in  rented  houses.  Remodelling 
a  house  that  is  hopelessly  wrong  is  never  a  success, 
as  the  expense  is  oftentimes  as  great  or  greater  than 
building  anew.  There  are  minor  changes,  however, 
which  can  be  made  at  moderate  cost. 

It  is  always  a  good  plan  to  have  a  carpenter  or  build- 
er estimate  the  cost  of  any  changes  before  beginning, 
and  it  will  generally  be  found  more  satisfactory  to  have 
an  architect  plan  alterations.  If  a  house  lacks  a  good 
broad  porch  or  verandah,  the  addition  of  one  will  well 
repay  the  expense.  Two  seven  by  nine  bedrooms  with 
no  closets  had  better  be  made  into  one  fair  sized  bed- 
room and  one  closet. 

A  window  cut  in  the  kitchen  or  dark  corner  or  closet 
will  frequently  be  found  worth  the  cost.  The  addi- 
tion of  a  bay  window  is  less  in  vogue  now  than  a  few 
years  ago,  but  if  made  in  keeping  and  not  "stuck  on," 
may  improve  the  appearance  of  the  outside  of  the 
house  and  brighten  up  the  room  wonderfully.  Win- 
dow seats  cost  but  little  and  may  be  found  to  add  much 
to  the  comfort  of  a  room. 

For  the  money  expended  the  change  in  wall  paper 
will  produce  the  greatest  difference  in  the  appearance 

152 


CARE  OF  THE  HOUSE  153 

of  a  room.  One  never  realizes  the  irritating  and  de- 
pressing influence  of  ugly  wall  paper  until  it  is  changed 
for  the  better.  If  over  two  layers  of  paper  are  on 
the  wall,  the  old  paper  should  be  removed  before  put- 
ting on  new,  as  the  paste  used  may  serve  as  an  attrac- 
tion for  vermin  and  also  make  a  very  unsanitary  con- 
dition. 

It  costs  fifty  cents  a  roll,  more  or  less,  to  "hang"  Cost 
wall  paper  in  addition  to  the  cost  of  the  paper  itself, 
which  may  be  from  ten  to  fifty  cents  or  a  dollar  or 
more  a  roll.  A  roll  of  paper  will  cover  four  square 
yards.  Generous  allowance  must  be  made,  however, 
for  waste.  The  plain  cartridge  paper  is  very  apt  to 
fade  as  the  coloring  is  simply  a  stain,  while  the  fig- 
ured papers  are  coated  and  printed  with  mineral  colors 
or  "lakes."  The  color  of  faded  papers  can  be  renewed 
or  changed  slightly  by  a  thin  coat  of  water  color  stain 
applied,  of  course,  by  one  who  has  had  experience.  It 
sometimes  happens  that  the  fading  of  the  paper  adds 
to  the  harmony  of  a  room. 

In   sections   of  this  country  burning  soft   coal,   the      Cleaning: 

r  „  .  '  .      .          Wall  Paper 

use  of  wall  paper  cleaner  is  very  common,  but  it  is 
not  so  frequently  made  use  of  in  the  eastern  states. 
The  most  convenient  kind  of  wall  paper  cleaner  comes 
as  a  powder  which,  when  mixed  with  cold  water,  makes 
a  mass  of  rubber-like  consistency  with  which  the  paper 
is  rubbed  vigorously.  It  will  brighten  soiled  paper 
greatly ;  pencil  marks,  even,  may  be  removed  with  it. 


A  TWO-STORY  KITCHEN  TABLE  ON  ROLLERS 
Made  from  an  Old  Fashioned  Wash  Stand  with  Zinc  Covered  Top  and 


CARE  OF  THE  HOUSE 


155 


A  home-made  recipe  for  cleaning  soiled  wall  paper 
is  as  follows :  Take  a  salt  sack  or  make  a  small  cheese 
cloth  bag,  partly  fill  it  with  ordinary  flour  and  gently 
rub  the  paper.  The  flour  will  become  dusty  as  the 
wall  paper  grows  cleaner.  A  friend  of  the  author 
makes  bread  dough,  bakes  it  so  that  it  is  quite 
"doughy,"  and  uses  this  for  a  wall  cleaner  with  great 
success.  She  says  it  is  much  cheaper  than  the  ordi- 
nary cleaner. 

Happily  the  style  for  paper- 
ing ceilings  in  figured  designs 
is  going  out.  A  ceiling  so 
covered  may  be  painted  with 
two  coats  of  calcimine  and 
thus  the  restfulness  of  the 
room  helped. 

The  staining  and  painting 
of  floors  has  already  been 

spoken  of.  The  woodwork  of  a  parlor  may  often  be 
brought  into  better  harmony  with  the  rest  of  the  room 
by  coats  of  cream-colored  paint.  The  last  coat  should 
be  mixed  with  good  varnish  to  give  a  more  resisting 
surface.  Ugly  radiators  and  steam  pipes  can  be  im- 
proved by  a  coating  of  aluminum  enamel. 

Most  kitchens  can  easily  be  changed  for  the  better. 
A  drop-leaf  table  may  be  an  added  convenience.  A 
table,  preferably  with  two  "stories"  on  rollers  or  castors, 
should  be  found  in  every  kitchen.  It  should  be  small 
enough  to  pass  through  the  doorways  easily.  It  may 


A  Drop  Leaf  Table. 


Painting 


Changes  in 
the  Kitchen 


156 


THE  HOUSE 


Raising 
the  Table 


Raising: 
the  Sink 


be  used  to  transfer  dishes  or  food  from  one  room  to 
another.  If  the  bread  needs  to  be  nearer  the  stove  for 
warmth  it  can  be  put  on  this  table  and  moved  wher- 
ever needed.  Such  a  table  is  also  useful  when  one  is 
making  croquettes  or  doughnuts.  Almost  all  kitchen 
tables  are  too  low  for  a  person  of  ordinary  height. 


Table  Leg        TableLeg. 


Ir<on  Oowe/        Brass  o. 
/ronFerrult 


Extent/on  Cxtent/'on 


TWO  METHODS  OF  LENGTHENING  THE  TABLE  LEGS. 

Castors  will  add  an  inch  or  more  to  their  height  or 
the  legs  may  be  lengthened  as  shown  in  the  illustra- 
tion. The  same  fault  is  nearly  always  present  in  the 
height  of  the  sink.  Changing  this  will  require  some 
little  outlay  if  the  plumber  must  be  called  in,  as  is  gen- 
erally necessary.  The  traps  need  not  be  moved,  the 
waste  pipe  should  be  lengthened  by  soldering  a  short 
piece  of  lead  pipe  to  the  end  of  the  old  pipe,  attaching 
it  anew  to  the  outlet  of  the  sink.  The  water  faucets 
must  be  raised  also  in  most  cases. 


CARE  01^  THE  HOUSE 


157 


The  position  of  the  range  may  be  changed  at  slight 
expense  by  lengthening  the  stove  pipe ;  its  height  should 
be  considered  too.  The  fuel  ought  to  be  stored  on  a 
level  with  the  kitchen.  The  amount  of  energy  required 
to  carry  the  coal  from  the  cellar  to  the  range  and  again 
to  carry  the  ashes  back  to  the  cellar  can  be  measured 
in  tons  and  is  energy  entirely  wasted. 

The  illustration  shows  a  window  cupboard  for  pro- 
visions to  save  steps  to  the  cellar  in  cool  weather. 

Be  the  house  new  or  old  much  of  its  attractiveness  is 
due  to  the  care  bestowed  on  small  repairs.  The  slat- 
terly,  neglected  and  generally  run-down  appearance  of 
some  houses  is  due  to  this  neglect  of  small  repairs. 
Broken  door  knobs,  cracked  window  panes,  scratched 
furniture  that  squeaks,  doors  that  will  not  close,  win- 
dows that  will  not  open,  are  all  real  sources  of  dis- 
comfort in  any  home  and  yet  are  often  found. 

In  fixing  any  contrivance  about  the  house,  it  is  first 
necessary  to  make  a  careful  diagnosis  of  the  difficulty 
before  the  trouble  can  be  rectified.  This  is  a  self-evi- 
dent statement,  but  altogether  too  frequently  very  sim- 
ple repairs  remain  undone  because  the  trouble  is  not 
investigated.  If  as  much  ingenuity  as  is  shown  in  fix- 
ing over  a  dress  were  used  about  the  house  many  in- 
conveniences would  be  rectified  and  dollars  saved. 
Many  minor  changes  and  repairs  can  be  very  easily 
made.  More  hooks  where  needed,  a  convenient  shelf, 
a  small  cupboard — perhaps  made  from  a  box — may  be 


The  Rang  e 
and  Fuel 


Repairs 


A  WINDOW  CUPBOA1U) 
inom  the  Cornell  Reading  Course  for  .FVm/ioV  WU-es 


CARE  OF  THE  HOUSE 


159 


of  great  convenience  in  either  the  kitchen  or  bath- 
room. If  the  men  of  the  family  cannot  be  inveigled 
into  doing  these  things,  it  is  very  simple  to  take  the 
initiative. 

Every  household  should  include  among  its  essen- 
tial possessions  provisions  for  removing  these  difficul- 
ties. Most  of  them  can  be  disposed  of  by  the  use  of 
tools,  glue,  furniture  polish,  or  some  simple  chemical. 

The  tool  box  should  contain  a  few  ordinary  tools, 
such  as  a  hammer — two  sizes  preferable — a  screw  driv- 
er, gimlet,  awl,  pliers,  a  saw,  a  chisel,  and  plane.  A 
key-hole  saw  is  light  and  convenient.  The  hammer 
should  bear  some  relationship  in  size  to  the  nail  to  be 
driven.  A  large  hammer  and  a  small  nail  results  in 
the  proverbial  bruised  ringers.  Even  a  carpenter  can- 
not saw  perfectly  straight  unless  he  draws'  a  line  to 
guide  him. 

In  putting  in  screws,  screw  eyes  and  the  like,  espe- 
cially in  hard  wood,  it  is  first  necessary  to  have  a 
hole  nearly  as  deep  as  the  screw  to  be  used.  This 
should  be  made  with  a  gimlet  for  large  screws  and  an 
awl  for  small  screws.  There  is  then  no  difficulty  in 
inserting  the  screw  to  its  full  length.  Frequently  a 
screw  too  large  or  too  long  is  used  when  a  small  one 
will  hold  all  weight  required.  The  nails  and  screws 
that  have  accumulated  are  all  that  are  to  be  found  in 
most  households.  A  few  cents  invested  at  a  hardware 
store  in  nails,  screws,  hooks,  etc.,  of  assorted  sizes  will 


Tools 


Putting  in 
Screws 


i6o 


THE  HOUSE 


The 
Repair  Box 


Furniture 
Polish 


prove  a  good  investment  and  may  remove  the  inertia 
which  is  so  hard  to  overcome  in  making  small  changes. 

The  repair  box  should  certainly  contain  a  bottle  or 
tube  of  liquid  glue  for  mending  furniture  and  toys.  A 
thin  coating  of  glue  will  hold  more  securely  than  a 
thick  one.  Success  in  gluing  is  dependent  on  bringing 
the  parts  to  be  glued  as  near  together  as  possible  and 
keeping  them  in  position  until  the  glue  sets.  China 
which  must  be  washed  can  be  repaired  by  the  use  of 
thick  shellac  varnish.  Although  this  has  not  as  strong 
adhesive  properties  as  glue,  it  will  not  dissolve  in  warm 
water,  and  pieces  that  one  hesitates  to  throw  away 
because  of  a  small  nick  may  be  kept  in  use  until  serious 
accident  happens. 

Furniture  polish,  alcohol,  turpentine  and  floor  wax 
are  useful  in  removing  scratches  and  stains  from  fur- 
niture, floors,  and  woodwork. 

A  furniture  polish  recommended  by  an  old  furniture 
man  consisted  of  equal  parts  boiled  linseed  oil,  Japan 
drier,  and  turpentine.  It  should  be  applied  with  a 
linen  cloth  and  rubbed  until  dry. 

The  care  of  the  floors  has  been  mentioned  and  that 
in  general  applies  to  the  hardwood  finish  all  over  the 
house.  Remember  that  in  polishing,  all  woods  should 
be  rubbed  with  the  grain.  Weathered  oak  and  ma- 
hogany furniture  may  be  kept  in  the  best  condition 
by  a  weekly  application  of  a  pure  oil,  rubbed  on  well, 
always  with  the  grain.  To  keep  mahogany  as  did  our 
forbears,  good,  hard  rubbing  is  the  essential. 


CARE  OF  THE  HOUSE 


161 


Varnish  may  be  removed,  in  preparation  to  revarnish- 
ing,  by  means  of  one  of  the  many  "varnish  removers" 
to  be  obtained  at  any  good  paint  store.  These  con- 
tain amyl  alcohol,  amyl  acetate  and  other  solvents 
which  have  a  rather  disagreeable  odor,  but  they  are 
not  caustic  and  so  are  more  convenient  to  use  than 
caustic  soda  and  other  strong  chemical  varnish  re- 
movers. The  solvents  soften  the  varnish  which  then 
may  be  easily  scraped  off  with  a  knife  or  scraper. 

The  ornamental  brass  work  about  the  house  as  gas 
and  electric  fixtures  and  some  of  the  silver-plated  ware 
is  coated  with  a  thin  transparent  varnish  called  "lac- 
quer." This  prevents  the  polished  metal  from  tarnish- 
ing while  it  is  intact.  If  the  lacquer  becomes  scratched 
or  damaged  in  any  way  the  only  method  of  helping 
matters  is  to  remove  the  coating,  polish  the  metal  anew 
and  apply  a  fresh  coating  of  lacquer.  The  old  lacquer 
is  easily  removed  by  alcohol.  Shops  having  the  proper 
polishing  wheels  for  obtaining  a  good  polish  can  ac- 
complish this  better  than  the  housekeeper. 

Wall  paper  which  has  been  marred  by  staining  or 
otherwise  can  be  repaired  by  patching  a  carefully 
matched  piece  over  the  offending  damage,  or  if  the 
paper  be  simply  rubbed  off  in  small  spots,  as  happens 
in  moving  furniture  and  trunks,  a  small  brush  dipped 
in  water  will  remove  the  coating  of  a  small  bit  of  the 
paper  and  the  white  spot  of  plaster  can  be  touched  up 
so  as  to  be  unnoticeable. 


Varnish 
Removeri 


Lacquer 


Ife 


THE  HOUSE 


Care  of 
Rugs 


Marble 


Washing 
Windows 


Fainted 
Wood-work 


Rugs  should  not  be  whipped  unless  laid  flat  on  the 
ground.  They  never  should  be  hung  over  a  line.  All 
rugs  improve  in  glossiness  and  beauty  under  proper 
treatment.  Cheap  or  expensive,  they  should  be  swept 
in  the  direction  they  were  woven,  which  may  be  ascer- 
tained by  putting  your  hand  over  them  and  feeling 
which  way  the  nap  runs.  It  ruins  Oriental  rugs  to 
sweep  them  in  the  wrong  direction,  and  small  rugs 
should  be  brushed  with  a  whisk  broom  in  preference 
to  sweeping  them. 

Marble  and  tiling  should  be  washed  with  a  soft 
cloth,  soap  and  water.  Avoid  acids  on  either;  to 
marble  they  are  destructive.  Porcelain  tubs  can  best 
be  cleaned  with  kerosene  and  clear  water.  If  the 
marble  bowl  is  stained,  whiting  will  clean  it  better  than 
a  sand  soap,  which  scratches  it. 

Matting  should  be  swept,  then  wiped  with  a  damp 
cloth,  never  wet. 

When  washing  windows,  first  remove  the  dust,  both 
outside  and  in,  with  a  dry.  soft  cloth.  Clean  the  cor- 
ners and  grooves  with  a  skewer,  covered  with  a  cloth. 
Wash  with  clean  water  and  ammonia,  using  plenty  of 
soft,  clean  cloths,  and  polish  dry.  Do  not  wash  win- 
dows when  the  sun  is  shining  on  them. 

Painted  wood-work  requires  care.  Paint  is  sof- 
tened by  wet  alkalies,  such  as  ammonia,  potash,  or 
borax.  Clear,  warm  water,  or  whiting  and  cold  water, 
should  be  used.  The  enamel  finish  is  most  easily 
cleaned  with  clear,  warm  water.  Whiting  will  remove 


HOUSEKEEPING 


the  ordinary  spots  on  the  wood-work  ;  if  stained,  alki*  'i 
will  perhaps  have  to  be  used  and  the  place  re-painted. 

Plaster  of  Paris  should  be  kept  on  hand  as  it  is  con 
venient  for  filling  up  cracks  and  mending  various  arti 
cles.     As  it  hardens  very  quickly,  some  deftness  is  re- 
quired in  using  it.     A  very  little  vinegar  added  to  the 
water  will  keep  the  plaster  from  hardening  quickly. 

Eternal  vigilance  in  little  things  is  the  price  paid  for 
small  repairs.  One  must  feel  it  is  worth  while  to  mend 
a  broken  lock,  or  oil  a  squeaky  door,  or  polish  the  fur- 
niture, if  one  would  keep  the  house  looking  well. 

HOUSEKEEPING 

A  word  more  instead  of  a  section  must  be  said  in 
closing  about  the  care  of  such  a  house  as  is  described 
in  these  pages.  Happily  the  days  are  passing  when  the 
feeling  prevails  that  "anyone  can  keep  house."  We 
have  been  a  long  time  in  learning  that  housekeeping 
is  a  profession  for  which  intelligent  preparation  is 
demanded.  The  woman  who  attempts  to  usurp  the 
authority  of  the  trained  nurse  in  charge  of  the  paMcnt 
does  so  at  the  risk  of  the  patient's  life.  Results  quite 
as  disastrous  to  the  life  of  the  household  may  be*  ex- 
pected from  the  woman  ignorant  of  the  first  princi- 
ples of  household  management  and  care. 

Proper  care  of  the  house  implies: 

1.  An  intelligent  conception  of  the  construction  of 
the  house. 

2.  Some  acquaintance    with   appliances   for  heating 
and  lighting-. 


Housekeeping 
as  a 
Profession 


r§»entiai 


i64 


THE  HOUSE 


The 

Mistress 
of  the 
Home 


Drudgery 


3.  A  knowledge  of  the  sanitary  aspects  of  plumbing. 

4.  A  knowledge  of  values  relative  and  absolute. 

5.  A  knowledge  of  materials  used  in  the  home. 

6.  That  attitude  of  mind  which  finds  pleasure  and 
satisfaction  in  a  well-cared-for  house. 

The  leader  of  the  orchestra  must  understand  the 
various  instruments  if  he  would  blend  their  tones  in 
a  pleasing  harmony;  so  the  mistress  of  a  home  must 
have  some  definite  knowledge  of  the  machinery  of  its 
various  parts  if  she  would  manage  them  successfully. 
It  is  worth  while  to  know  enough  about  the  heating 
system  to  save  an  explosion  by  simply  opening  a 
valve,  worth  while  to  know  enough  about  the  fur- 
nace to  be  able  to  save  fuel  by  closing  the  drafts, 
worth  while  to  be  able  to  buy  intelligently  the  food, 
silver,  china,  linen,  and  glass  needed  in  a  home  that 
the  money,  of  which  there  is  rarely  an  abundance,  be 
not  squandered  for  poor  materials. 

The  woman  who  announces  that  housekeeping  is 
drudgery  and  that  she  keeps  as  far  away  from  it  as 
possible,  thus  confesses  that  she  has  been  unequal 
to  her  task.  To  such  it  must  ever  be  drudgery,  but  to 
her  who  understands  the  possibilities  and  satisfaction 
in  a  well-ordered  house  and  gives  herself  to  a  con- 
scientious and  intelligent  study  of  its  problems,  it 
gives  an  insight  into  and  an  understanding  of  people 
and  things :  it  provides  a  place  for  the  application  of 
science,  economics,  ethics  and  aesthetics  and  yields 
the  satisfaction  of  achievement  and  the  gratitude  and 
love  of  those  who  have  shared  the  benefits  of  such  a 
home. 


TEST  QUESTIONS 

The  following  questions  constitute  the  "written  reci- 
tation" which  the  regular  members  of  the  A.  S.  H.  E. 
answer  in  writing  and  send  in  for  the  correction  and 
comment  of  the  instructor.  They  are  intended  to 
emphasize  and  fix  in  the  memory  the  most  important 
points  in  the  lesson. 


THE   HOUSE 

Its  Plan,  Decoration  and  Care 


PART  III 


Read  Carefully.  Place  your  name:  and  address  on  the 
first  sheet  of  the  test.  Use  a  light  grade  of  paper  and  write 
on  one  side  of  the  sheet  onl}*.  Leave  space  between  the 
answers  for  the  notes  of  the  instructor.  Use  your  own 
words  and  answer  fully  Read  the  lesson  paper  a  number 
of  times  before  attempting  to  answer  the  questions. 


1.  'Name  the  points  to  be  considered  in  the  con- 

struction of  the  house. 

2.  What  devices  for  fire  protection  are  there? 

3.  Define  stud,  sill,  plate,  girder,  rafter. 

4.  What  kind  of  floor  for  living  room  do  you  pre- 

fer?    Give  reasons  for  your  preference. 

5.  Where  should  the  decoration  of  a  room  begin? 

6.  Wrhat  do  you  consider  the  most  important  factor 

in  the  furnishing  of  a  room? 

7.  What  principles  should  govern  in  the  selection 

of  the  furnishing  and  furniture  of  a  room? 

8.  Give  a   scheme   for  color  and   furnishing  of  a 

living  room  (15x25  ft.)  with  low  ceilings, 
west  and  north  exposure,  varnished  hard  pine 
for  its  wood. 

9.  Give  color  scheme  for  a  kitchen  with  covering 

for  walls  and  floor  and  the  location  of  the  es- 
sential furniture. 


THE  HOUSE 

10.  What  can  you  say  of  draperies? 

11.  Give  the  distinguishing  characters  of  some  of  the 

best  known  types  of  chairs. 

12.  What  seems  to  you  the  greatest  difficulty  in  the 

care  of  the  house?     Why? 

13.  What  do  you  regard  as  essentials   in  bedroom 

furniture  and  furnishings? 

14.  Suggest  changes  in  the  house  most  familiar  to 

you  which  could  be  made  to  advantage  and  at 
small  expense. 

15.  What  suggestions  have  you  to  offer  concerning 

household  conveniences  ? 

16.  Are  there  any  questions  you  would  like  to  ask 

relating  to  "The  House"? 

NOTE.— After  completing  the  test,  sign  your  full  name. 


SUPPLEMENT  TO  THE  HOUSE, 
ITS  PLAN,  DECORATION  AND  CARE 

BY   ISABEL    BEVIER,    PH.   M. 
HOUSES  OF  THE  TRANSITIONAL  PERIOD 

In  the  papers  which  I  have  received  it  is  evident 
from  the  answers  to  the  question  in  Lesson  I  on  the 
transitional  house  that  much  misunderstanding  exists 
in  regard  to  it.  By  some  it  seems  to  be  interpreted  to 
mean  any  inconvenient  house,  while  others  feel  that 
they  ought  not  to  be  expected  to  be  familiar  with 
houses  which  were  built  seventy-five  years  ago.  Be- 
cause of  this  misunderstanding  it  seems  desirable  to 
add  a  few  words  concerning  the  transitional  house. 
The  characteristics  of  the  Colonial  house  are  discussed 
on  pages  25-41,  and  the  statement  is  there  made  that 
the  transitional  period  began  in  the  early  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  house  of  the  transitional 
period  one  must  remember  how  much  of  the  life  of  a 
people  is  shown  in  its  architecture.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  Colonial  houses  of  the  North  and  the  South 
illustrate  this  point.  A  glance  at  the  pictures  of  the 
two  types  reveals  at  once  the  difference  in  thoughts 
and  feelings  between  the  dweller  in  the  Sunny  South 
and  the  one  on  the  Northern  "stern  and  rock-bound 

coast." 

167 


168  THE  HOUSE 

The  word  transition  suggests  change  and  that  sug- 
gests variety,  uncertainty,  and  these  are  the  words 
which  characterize  the  period  beginning  about  1825. 
The  war  of  the  revolution  was  over,  but  the  spirit  of 
it  yet  remained ;  traditions  and  customs  were  being 
questioned.  The  Americans  were  experimenting  in 
politics,  business,  and  social  customs  and  naturally  this 
spirit  of  experimentation  expressed  itself  in  archi- 
tecture. For  a  time  Colonial  customs  and  traditions 
were  maintained,  but  they  were  bound  to  yield  sooner 
or  later  to  the  demands  of  the  revolutionary  spirit  for 
a  newer  style  of  architecture  as  well  as  changes  in 
social  order  and  business  methods.  Architecture  is 
too  complex  to  yield  easily  to  experimentation.  As  a 
result  the  dwellings  of  the  period  show  all  sorts  or  in- 
congruities. 

The  well-trained  handicraftsmen  lost  much  of  their 
skill  in  their  attempt  to  build  quickly  rather  than  well. 
They  lost,  too,  the  inspiration  of  association  with 
skilled  workmen  and  good  standards  as  they  journeyed 
westward.  The  amateur  architects  lacked  judgment 
and  adaptation.  Greek  art  and  architecture  have  been 
the  standard  of  beauty  for  all  ages,  but  these  archi- 
tects overlooked  the  fact  that  these  models  of  beauty 
were  public  buildings,  not  private  residences.  '  The 
results  were  incongruities  in  domestic  architecture. 
Imitations  of  Greek  and  Doric  temples  made  strange 
looking  houses  on  the  Hudson.  Many  towns  in  the 
United  States  are  still  in  their  transitional  period  as 


HOUSES  OF  THE  TRANSITIONAL  PERIOD     169 

regards  art,  and  architecture,  witness  the  tiny  cottage 
with  Doric  and  Ionic  columns  of  a  size  sufficient  for 
a  Greek  temple,  or  the  house  with  Dutch  gambrel 
roof,  French  windows  and  old  Colonial  outline. 

The  wooden  Parthenon  endured  longer  in  the  South. 
The  veranda  with  pillars  served  to  shut  out  some  of 
the  heat  of  the  Southern  sun.  This  lawless  imitation 
of  old  world  forms  obtained  not  only  in  architecture, 
but  furniture  and  furnishings  as  well.  Empire  furni- 
ture lacking  the  refinement  and  simplicity  of  Colonial 
became  common  and  what  one  has  called  the  "Dark 
Middle  Age"  of  American  interior  decoration  began. 

The  condition  of  New  York  residential  architecture 
in  the  fifties  may  be  gathered  from  the  complaints  of 
one  writer  who  does  not  like  to  have  the  "streets  of 
New  York  filled  with  costly  and  meaningless  copies  of 
Greek  porticos,  of  Gothicized  dwellings,  of  ambitious 
imitations  of  baronial  castles,  Egyptian  tombs,  turreted 
churches,  useless  campanile  towers."  The  writer  adds, 
"As  yet  there  is  no  American  architecture  whose  name 
is  known  beyond  the  circle  of  his  own  employers"  and 
he  predicts  that  we  must  outgrow  our  childish  de- 
pendence upon  the  old  world  before  we  shall  be  able 
to  boast  of  our  architecture  as  we  boast  of  our  ship 
builders.  One  style  followed  another  in  rapid  succes- 
sion. All  lands,  all  materials  were  brought  into 
requisition  by  the  energetic  American  architect,  aided 
by  the  ambitious  rich  man  who  had  traveled  in  other 
lands.  Perhaps  the  most  extreme  example  of  the  in- 


170  THE  HOUSE 

congruities  of  the  house  of  the  transition  period  may  be 
found  in  'The  Celebrity,"  where  the  new  rich  man 
gives  this  description  of  his  favorite  country  seat. 

"I  had  all  these  ideas  I  gathered  knocking  about  the 
world,  and  I  gave  them  to  Willis  of  Philadelphia  to 
put  together  for  me.  But  he's  honest  enough  not  to 
claim  the  house.  Take,  for  instance,  that  minaret 
business  on  the  west.  I  picked  that  up  from  a  mosque 
in  Algiers.  The  oriel  just  this  side  is  whole  cloth  from 
Haddon  Hall,  and  the  gallaried  porch  next  it  from  a 
Florentine  villa.  The  conical  capped  tower  I  got  from 
a  French  chateau,  and  some  of  the  features  on  the  south 
from  a  Buddhist  temple  in  Japan.  Only  a  little  blend- 
ing and  grouping  necessary,  and  Willis  calls  himself 
an  architect,  and  wasn't  equal  to  it.  Now,"  he*  added, 
"get  the  effect.  Did  you  ever  see  another  house 
like  it?" 

Extreme  as  this  description  may  seem,  such  mon- 
strosities existed  and  similar  examples  are  yet  to  be 
found.  It  would  appear  that  the  United  States  is  still 
in  the  transitional  period  so  far  as  its  architecture  is 
concerned  though  distinct  types  of  American  houses 
are  being  developed.  It  is  also  evident  that  while  the 
house  of  the  transitional  period  may  be  inconvenient 
it  is  certain  to  be  incongruous  because  of  its  blending 
of  elements  which  do  not  belong  together. 

COLOR  IN  DECORATION 

Since  the  words  concerning  color  were  written  a 
number  of  new  books  treating  of  this  subject  have 


COLOR  171 

come  into  the  author's  hands.  One  of  the  most  help- 
ful of  these  is  Ward's  "Color  Harmony  and  Con- 
trast." In  the  hope  that  the  knowledge  may  be  helpful 
some  of  the  ideas  there  presented  are  here  given.  As 
previously  stated  the  way  to  study  color  or  to  teach  its 
use  is  by  actual  practice  with  color  itself,  and  that  is 
not  easily  accomplished  by  printer's  ink. 

Judging  by  the  papers  received  it  seems  desirable 
to  call  attention  to  the  different  theories  of  color,  and 
so  explain  why  red,  green  and  blue  are  regarded  as  the 
primary  colors  rather  than  the  red,  yellow  and  blue 
of  the  older  theory.  This  theory  arose  from  the 
knowledge  that  any  mixture  of  pigments  could  not 
produce  a  pure  red,  yellow  or  blue,  so  these  were  con- 
sidered as  the  primary  colors.  Moreover,  most  colors 
other  than  the  primaries  can  be  made  by  mixing  the 
pigments  red,  yellow  and  blue,  so,  those  who  work 
with  pigments  and  dyes  regard  them  as  the  primary 
ones. 

The  physicists  base  their  theory  of  color  upon  the 
fact  that  while  yellow  exists  in  the  spectrum  as  a  sim- 
ple color  of  definite  wave-length  it  may  also  be  pro-, 
duced  on  the  retina  of  the  eye  as  a  color-sensation  by 
a  mixture  of  red  and  green  waves.  When  it  was 
shown  that  yellow  could  be  made  by  a  mixture  of  two 
other  colors  it  lost  its  place  as  a  primary  color.  It  has 
been  proved  that  the  retina  of  the  eye  is  sensitive  only 
to  red,  green  and  violet  blue ;  all  other  color  sensations 
result  from  the  blending  of  these  sensations. 


172  THE  HOUSE 

This  fact  calls  attention  to  the  different  results  ob- 
tained by  the  mixing  of  pigments  and  the  mixing  of 
colored  lights.  Yellow  and  blue  pigments  give  green. 
Yellow  and  blue  lights  produce  white  or  grayish  white, 
but  in  no  case  any  tinge  ot  green  light.  This  difference 
between  the  mixing  of  pigments  and  of  light  is  further 
explained  by  the  fact  that  in  mixing  lights  one  color  is 
added  to  another,  while  in  a  mixture  of  pigments  each 
color  of  the  mixture  absorbs  the  color  of  its  companion 
and  the  final  color  is  due  to  the  power  of  the  mixture 
to  reflect  the  particular  color  not  absorbed  by  either 
constituent.  For  example,  the  result  of  a  mixing  of 
blue  and  yellow  pigments  may  be  illustrated  as  follows : 
The  colors  making  up  white  light  are — 

Red 

Orange 

Yellow 

Green 

Blue 

Violet. 

Pigments  absorb  certain  colors  and  reflect  others. 
The  mixture  of  these  reflected  give  the  color.  The 
blue  pigment  absorbs  red,  orange  and  yellow.  The 
yellow  absorbs  blue  and  violet.  Then,  only  green  is 
left  unabsorbed  and  this  is  the  light  reflected  which 
gives  color  to  the  mixture.  As  we  are  concerned  with 
colors  of  light  in  decoration  and  not  with  mixing  pig- 
ments, the  scientific  classification  is  the  important  one 
here.  So  much  for  the  theories  of  color. 


COLOR  173 

It  may  be  well  to  define  some  terms.  Scientists  in 
defining  color  consider  three  of  its  qualities,  viz., 
Purity,  luminosity,  and  hue,  and  to  these  they  have 
given  the  name  "Constants  of  Color/'  Purity  in  a 
color  means  freedom  from  white  light.  The  colors  of 
the  spectrum  are  taken  as  standards  of  pure  color. 
All  natural  bodies  reflect  more  or  less  white  light  and 
are  to  that  extent  impure..  Artists  sometimes  use  the 
term  to  indicate  purity  from  "muddy"  tones,  but  that 
is  not  the  scientific  use  of  the  term. 

The  second  constant  of  color  is  luminosity  or 
brightness.  This  brightness  depends  on  the  total 
amount  of  light  reflected  to  the  eye.  This  total  amount 
varies  with  the  degree  of  illumination  and  the  amount 
of  black  in  the  pigment.  The  tone  of  a  color  therefore 
depends  upon  its  degree  of  luminosity. 

The  third  constant  is  hue.  All  the  spectrum  colors 
have  different  degrees  of  refrangibility  or  different 
wave-lengths,  violet  having  the  shortest  and  red  the 
longest.  As  generally  interpreted  a  shade  is  produced 
by  adding  black  to  a  hue  or  color,  and  a  tint  by  adding 
white  to  a  hue  or  color.  Brown  is  a  shade  of  orange, 
the  color  of  the  sky  a  tint  of  blue.  When  one  re- 
alizes the  number  of  shades  and  tints  possible  the 
problem  of  making  a  good  selection  is  better  appre- 
ciated. 

Only  general  principles  can  be  given  to  aid  in  the 
selection  of  colors. 

First,  the  decorator  finds  that  he  can  not  use  the 


174  THE  HOUSE 

pure  tones  in  complementary  pairs  on  account  of  their 
violent  contrast  and  their  inharmonious  association. 
The  use  of  green  and  red  has  already  been  considered. 
See  page  126. 

The  darkened  shades  of  the  primaries  and  their  com- 
plementaries  make  much  more  satisfactory  colors  for 
general  use.     The  pure  tones  are  too  exciting,  too 
stimulating  to  both  eye  and  mind.    Ward  gives  (page 
49)  the  following  table  of  darkened  complementaries 
(obtained  by  adding  black  to  spectrum  colors). 
j  Dark  red  or  maroon. 
(  Dark  blue-green. 

f  Olive-yellow  or  citrine. 
{  Dark  blue. 

(  Dark  green,  or  myrtle. 

(  Dark  violet-purple  or  plum. 

Besides  the  "harmony  of  contrast"  in  colors  there  are 
other  kinds  of  color  harmony.  One  cf  the  most  desir- 
able is  that  obtained  by  mixing  colors  with  others  of 
closely  related  hues,  where  one  color  passes  to  another 
by  a  marked  interval ;  another  method  is  by  the  gradu- 
ation of  a  color  from  darker  to  lighter  shades,  or  yet 
another  by  the  use  of  a  "dominant  color." 

Ward  says,  "Brilliant  and  intense  colors  are  always 
very  difficult  to  harmonize  in  pairs,  but  if  it  were  neces- 
sary to  have  a  pair  of  brilliant  colors  in  any  particular 
scheme  of  decoration,  care  must  be  taken  to  use  one  or 
other  of  the  pair  in  a  much  greater  proportion,  either 
of  area,  or  of  intensity,  than  its  companion ;  for  in- 


COLOR  175 

stance,  if  orange-yellow  and  blue,  which  are  perfectly 
harmonious  together,  are  used  in  the  same  proportion 
in  a  scheme  of  color,  the  effect  will  be  unsatisfactory 
and  bewildering,  as  each  color  will  appear  to  fight  for 
the  mastery,  one  or  other  color  must  be  distinctly  dom- 
inant in  order  to  give  that  sense  of  proportion  and 
artistic  balance  which  is  looked  for  in  true  color  har- 
monies. .  .  .  But  no  two  colors  in  any  scheme, 
however  complex,  should,  as  a  rule,  be  used  in  similar 
quantities.  One  color  either  in  area  or  intensity  ought 
to  be  in  excess  of  any  other  color  in  a  good  composi- 
tion." Page  74. 

Following  out  this  principle  in  improving  the  green 
and  red  room  already  considered,  it  would  be  improved 
by  making  green  the  dominant  hue  and  adding  touches 
of  red  possibly  in  the  hangings  or  sofa  cushions. 

"We  see  this  kind  of  gradation  or  small  interval 
in  the  green  foliage  of  trees,  where  the  lighter  greens 
are  yellowish,  the  middle  tints  of  the  masses  greener, 
and  the  darker  tints  inclining  to  blue — or  grey-greens, 
though  the  latter  are  never  absolutely  cold  in  hue. 

"When  using  tints  or  shades  of  green  in  large  spaces 
in  decoration,  it  is  always  much  better  to  keep  the 
lighter  tints  purer  in  color,  and  the  darker  shades  more 
grey  in  hue.  This  is  a  lesson  from  nature  which  can 
be  applied  in  decoration  with  the  best  results.  With 
other  colors  this  is  more  or  less  true,  but  it  applies  par- 
ticularly to  green,  because  it  is  the  most  difficult  of  all 
colors  to  manage,  either  in  pictorial  or  decorative  art. 


i;6  THE  HOUSE 

"There  is  no  quality  of  color  in  nature,  or  in  art,  so 
precious  as  that  of  gradation,  and  none  so  universal ; 
it  is  gradation  which  gives  the  palpitating  and  throbbing 
life  to  color,  in  fact,  it  is  the  life  itself  of  a  color.  Com- 
pare the  flat  uniform  layer  of  a  wash,  or  coat  of  color, 
with  a  wash  of  the  same  color  laid  on  unevenly,  or 
allowed  to  flow  freely  from  the  brush,  and  the  greater 
beauty  and  superiority  of  the  latter  will  at  once  be 
self-evident."  (Page  80.) 

So  much  for  the  principles.  It  is  hoped  that  the  fol- 
lowing combinations  of  color  taken  from  Mr.  Ward's 
book  may  be  helpful. 

TABLE  OF  COMBINATIONS  OF  DYADS,  OR  PAIRS  OF  COLORS 

Red    with    blue very  good. 

Red    with    green harsh. 

Red  with   yellow moderate. 

Red   with  orange-red moderate. 

Red    with   blue-green fair. 

Red   with   green-yellow fairly  good. 

Red  with  violet bad. 

Scarlet   or   vermilion  with  blue good. 

Scarlet,  or  vermilion  with  turquoise,  .good. 

Scarlet  or  vermilion  with  green harsh. 

Scarlet  or  vermilion  with  yellow moderate. 

Scarlet  or  vermilion  with   violet bad. 

Orange-red    with    blue good. 

Orange-red    with    turquoise good. 

Orange-red   with    blue-green harsh. 

Orange-red  with   yellow-green moderate. 

Orange-red    with   yellow....* moderate. 

Orange   with    blue excellent, 

but  powerful. 

Orange    with    turquoise excellent. 

Orange  with   green fairly  good. 

Orange   with  blue-green good. 


COLOR  177 

Orange  with  violet fairly  good. 

Orange   with   purple moderate. 

Orange-yellow    with   blue .' excellent. 

Orange-yellow   with    turquoise fairly  good. 

Orange-yellow   with   blue-green moderate. 

Orange-yellow   with   red poor. 

Orange-yellow  with  violet good. 

Orange-yellow  with   purple fairly  good. 

Yellow    with    blue good. 

Yellow    with    turquoise fair. 

Yellow    with    blue-green bad. 

Yellow  with   green moderate. 

Yellow    with    red moderate. 

Yellow   with   violet excellent. 

Yellow    with    purple good. 

Greenish-yellow    with    blue good. 

Greenish-yellow  with  turquoise poor. 

Greenish-yellow  with  blue-green tair. 

Greenish   yellow   with   green fair. 

Greenish-yellow  with   red harsh. 

Greenish-yellow  with  violet excellent. 

Greenish-yellow    with    purple good. 

ureen    with    blue poor. 

Green    with    turquoise bad. 

Green    with    red strong  and  harsh. 

Green   with  violet iioderate. 

Green    with    purple harsh 

Bluish-green    with    scarlet fair. 

Bluish-green  with   blue bad. 

Bluish-green  with  violet good. 

"Many  of  the  combinations  given  above  as  'moder- 
ate' and  'fair'  can  be  much  improved  by  darkening  the 
lighter  color,  and  where  they  are  mentioned  as  'harsh' 
they  may  be  brought  into  better  harmony  by  darkening 
both  colors. 

"Most  of  the  bad  or  poor  combinations  may  be  made 
into  agreeable  harmonies  when  a  third  color  is  added 
to  the  "Ton]-),  which,  on  the  other  hand,  may  shattei 


THE  HOUSE 


the  harmony  of  a  pair  that  combine  well  together. 
Thus  yellow  with  blue-green  is  a  bad  combination,  but 
if  violet  is  introduced  the  arrangement  is  excellent. 
Scarlet  and  blue  are  a  good  pair,  but  if  green  or  green- 
ish-blue is  added  to  make  a  triad,  the  combination  will 
be  disagreeable. 

TABLE  OF  AGREEABLE  CONTRASTS 


1.  Heliotrope      and      light 
amber. 

2.  Violet  and  amber. 

3.  Violet  and  light  yellow- 
ish-pink. 

4.  Ultramarine     and     dark 

yellow-green. 

5.  Grey-blue       and       light 
golden-ochre. 

6.  Plum-purple  and  orange- 

amber. 

7.  Plum-violet     and     sage- 
green. 

8.  Brownish-yellow       and 

deep  warm  green. 

9.  Dull  orange    and    slate- 
blue. 

10.  Dull  indigo  and  dull  or- 
ange. 

11.  Slate-blue  and    greyish- 
yellow-green. 

12.  Claret  and  buff. 

13.  Deep  blue   and    yellow- 
ish-pink. 


and       pea- 


and        warm 
bronze-yel- 
medium 
grey- 


14.  Chocolate 
green. 

15.  Maroon 

green. 

16.  Black    and 
low-green. 

17.  Deep  red    and 
grey. 

18.  Venetian  red  and 

yellow-green. 

19.  Coral-red  and  turquoise. 

20.  Chamois  and  lavender. 

21.  Deep  crimson  and    yel- 
lowish-green. 

22.  Deep  golden-yellow  and 

sea-green. 

23.  Golden-brown  and  olive- 
green. 

24.  Pale  turquoise  and  pale 
orange. 

25.  Deep   blue   and    yellow- 

ish-green. 

26.  Indigo   and    light   olive- 
green. 


"All  these  color  combinations  would  be  improved  if 
the  colors  were  divided  by  lines  of  black,  white,  gold, 
or  in  some  cases  by  a  neutral  grey. 

"Any  two  colors,  no  matter  how  disagreeable  they 
may  look  together,  may  be  brought  into  harmony  by 
the  added  help  of  another  color  in  combination,  and, 


COLOR  179 

generally  speaking,  it  is  not  a  very  difficult  matter  to 
obtain  the  color  that  is  wanted  to  complete  the  har- 
mony. The  chief  thing  to  observe  in  the  selection  of 
any  three  colors,  necessary  to  form  an  agreeable  ar- 
rangement, is  that  each  color,  or  tone  of  a  color,  should 
be  selected  from  equally  distant,  or  nearly  so,  positions 
on  the  chromatic  circle,  and  what  is  almost  of  as  great 
importance,  is  to  have  two  of  the  colors  in  the  arrange- 
ment selected  from  the  group  of  the  warmer  colors. 
Not  only  do  these  conditions  obtain  in  the  natural  laws 
of  harmonious  coloring,  but  we  constantly  notice  this 
preponderance  of  warm  colors  over  the  colder  ones,  in 
the  best  color  schemes  of  the  great  colorists  and  dec- 
orative artists. 

"The  old  mosaics  of  the  fifth  century  at  Ravenna 
have  color  arrangements  of  blue,  gold,  and  green ;  the 
green  is  yellowish  in  the  lighter  parts,  and  is  grada- 
ted into  the  blue  ground  in  certain  parts  of  the  de- 
sign, and  here  the  gold  supplied  the  place  of  red  or 
orange,  the  whole  being  a  perfect  harmony. 

"The  favorite  triads  of  the  best  Italian  painters 
were — 

Red,  blue,  yellow. 

Coral-red,  ultramarine,  orange-amber. 

Scarlet,  olive-green,  violet. 

Orange,  green,  violet. 

Purple,  yellow,  grey-green. 

"In  all  these  groups  it  will  be  seen  that  the  warmer 
colors  are  in  the  ascendc  ncy,  and  each  of  the  triads 
afford  excellent  color  combinations." 


A   CUTLER'S   TRAY    ON   WHEELS 
Photograph   Furnished   by   a   Massachusetts   Student   of   the  A.  S.  H.  E. 


HOUSEHOLD  CONVENIENCES 

In  reply  to  question  15  of  Part  II,  "What  sugges- 
tions have  you  to  offer  concerning  household  conveni- 
ences?" a  number  of  interesting  replies  have  been  re- 
ceived. One  student  from  Massachusetts  sends  in  a 
photograph  of  a  home-made  butler's  table  on  wheels. 
She  says :  "It  is  39  inches  long,  22  inches  in  width  in 
the  middle,  and  slants  till  at  the  ends  it  is  16  inches. 
This  allows  it  to  go  through  doorways  without  so 
much  danger  of  bumping.  The  small  wheels  are  put 
on  like  castors,  on  swivels,  thus  allowing  the  table  to 
turn  completely  around,  which  is  a  great  convenience. 
It  is  used  for  setting  the  table,  clearing  away  the 
dishes,  etc. 

A  number  have  spoken  of  the  convenience  of  shal- 
low closets  or  wardrobes  when  there  is  not  space  for  a 
large  closet.  These  sometimes  have  double  doors  that 
open  the  full  width  of  the  closet,  thus  bringing  every- 
thing into  view.  Sometimes  the  lower  portion  is  made 
into  drawers. 

One  describes  a.  chest  of  very  large  drawers  that 
run  on  rollers  and  so  are  easily  pulled  out.  Skirts 
were  placed  full  length  in  these  drawers. 

Another  tells  of  a  horizontal  curtain  pole  placed  high 
up  in  a  large  closet.  This  is  used  for  hanging  of 
dresses,  each  on  its  own  dress  hanger.  A  •••tick  with  a 
hook  on  the  end  served  to  put  up  and  take  down  the 
hangers.  Others  place  the  pole  under  the  closet  shelf 
where  it  serves  a  similar  purpose  of  economizing  space. 


1 82  THE  HOUSE 

An  ingenious  arrangement  for  an  ironing  board  is 
described  by  an  Illinois  student.  The  board  is  hinged 
at  the  wide  end  and  has  a  hinged  leg  near  the  other 
end.  When  not  in  use,  the  board  may  bo  swung  up 
into  the  narrow  closet  in  which  it  fits,  and  the  door 
closed.  The  closet  contains  the  irons  and  other  appli- 
ances and  materials  used  for  ironing. 

A  number  have  written  of  the  convenience  of  a 
narrow  space  in  the  butler's  pantry  to  receive  extra 
table  leaves  when  they  are  not  in  use. 

A  china  closet  described  has  a  small  space  with 
upright  slats  in  it,  between  which  dinner  platters  are 
placed  without  fear  of  breakage.  In  the  same  house 
the  space  under  the  front  stairs,  which  was  too  shallow 
for  a  closet,  was  utilized  for  a  number  of  drawers. 

Clothes  chutes  from  the  bath  room  to  the  laundry 
and  built-in  refrigerators  with  arrangements  for  filling 
the  ice  compartment  from  the  outside,  as  illustrated 
in  some  of  the  plans,  seem  to  be  fully  appreciated. 

Quite  a  number  have  spoken  of  the  convenience  of 
an  upper  balcony  for  airing  bed  clothes,  brushing 
rugs,  clothing,  etc.  A  Philadelphia  student  writes : 
"Last  year  we  made  one  change  for  the  sake  of  our 
daughter,  then  three  years  old.  This  was  the  addi- 
tion of  a  balcony.  My  husband  said  it  would  cost  no 
more  than  many  men  spend  for  tobacco.  The  lum- 
ber was  bought  and  a  carpenter  employed  to  build  it. 
The  roof  of  the  second  story  serving  as  a  foundation 
for  the  porch.  A  railing  three  feet  high  with  an  eight 
inch  ledge  makes  a  safeguard.  The  roof  is  of  canvas. 


HOUSEHOLD  CONVENIENCES  183 

White  lead  was  used  between  the  floor  boards  to  make 
the  joints  waterproof.  A  swing  is  one  of  the  many 
things  that  the  porch  holds.  The  total  cost  was  sixty 
dollars." 

I  have  one  kitchen  convenience  which  I  would 
suggest  to  housekeepers  in  Mexico  or  similar  coun- 
tries where  it  is  necessary  to  lock  the  pantries.  It 
is  a  long,  low  box  with  a  hinged  cover  (something 
like  a  couch  box)  and  is  divided  into  compart- 
ments, which  hold  potatoes,  onions,  and  other  daily 
necessities  in  small  quantities.  One  compartment  is 
useful  for  holding  all  the  old  newspapers,  which  are 
put  there  for  kindling. 

Another  convenience  is  the  built-in  end  of  my 
dressing  room,  which  is  arranged  as  follows :  The 
top  of  the  dresser  serves  as  a  shelf.  Underneath 
this  the  space  is  divided  into  three  compartments 
for  about  three  feet.  The  center  one  is  an  open  re- 
cess having  hooks  on  the  three  sides.  The  left 
compartment  is  divided  into  three  shelves  for  hats 
and  shoes.  The  right  compartment  is  divided  by 
shelves  into  five  compartments  for  the  baby's 
clothes.  The  shelves  are  made  of  quarter-inch 
boards,  removable  for  cleaning.  Both  these  side 
closets  are  closed  with  doors,  having  spring  latches 
and  hooks  on  the  inside  of  the  doors.  Belowr  the 
three  compartments  are  three  shallow  drawers 
made  full  width  for  skirts,  and  below  these  are  four 
deep  drawers  made  half  width  —  two  on  each  side 
—  for  shirt  waists  and  pieces. 


HOUSE  PLANS 


185 


PLANS  FOR  A  $2,000  COTTAGE 

Several  students  have  asked  for  plans  of  a  cottage 
that  might  be  built  for  $2,000.  The  accompanying 
plans  give  some  idea  of  an  inexpensive  seven-room 
cottage  with  a  bath  room  and  with  a  laundry  in  the 
basement.  Two  rooms  on  the  first  floor  are  called 
bedrooms,  although  the  front  one  might  be  used  for  a 
library  if  desired. 

Some  of  the  rooms  might  be  made  more  attractive 
if  bay  windows  were  added,  but  any  change  from  sim- 
ple rectangular  lines  adds  to  the  expenst.  The  ar- 
rangement of  the  rooms  should  prove  convenient  for 
a  small  family. 

COMPLETED  HOUSE  PLANS 

Question  XI  in  Part  II  asks  the  student  to  complete 
the  plan  preferred  of  those  illustrated  in  the  text.  Re- 
prints of  Plans  4  and  5  on  cross  section  paper  being 
furnished  by  the  school,  most  of  the  students  have 
selected  one  of  them.  Many  have  sent  in  good  solu- 


186 


THE  HOUSE 


tions,  but  many  more  seem  to  have  difficulty  with  the 
problem  of  adding  the  dining  room  and  kitchen  plan. 
All,  I  think,  appreciate  better  some  of  the  difficulties 
of  the  architect.  The  illustrations  show  how  the  arch- 


THE  ARCHITECT'S  COMPLETION  OF  THE  SECOND  FLOOR  PLAN 


COMPLETED  HOUSE  PLANS 


187 


itccts  completed  plan  Xo.  4.  The  architect's  solution 
of  plan  Xo.  5  is  often  sent  to  students  with  the  cor- 
rected test. 


THE  WAY  THE  ARCHITECT  COMPLETED  PLAN  Xo.  4. 


THE  COST  OF  BUILDING 

FRANK  CHOUTEAU  BROWN,  Architect,  Boston. 

There  is  no  prospective  owner  or  builder  of  a  home 
but  desires  to  know  of  some  way  of  arriving  at  as  near 
an  approximation  of  its  actual  cost  as  it  is  possible  in 
advance.  The  problem,  difficult  enough  itself,  is  com- 
plicated by  the  constantly  varying  and  shifting  price  of 
material  and  labor ;  as  well  as  their  great  divergence  in 
cost — especially  in  material — in  the  different  parts  of 
the  country.  With  the  possible  exception  of  California, 
where  labor  is  excessively  high  but  many  materials  are 
cheapci"  than  elsewhere  in  the  country,  and  such  cities 
as  Chicago  and  New  York,  where  the  labor  problem  is 
unusually  complicated  by  the  labor  unions,  it  is  per- 
haps safe  to  consider  that  the  prices  current  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  especially  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston  are  at 
least  as  high  as  the  average  throughout  the  country. 
In  the  South,  West  and  Northwest,  most  materials 
are  considerably  below  the  prices  ruling  in  that  loca- 
tion and,  except  under  exceptional  conditions,  labor  is 
also  generally  cheaper  and  more  easily  obtainable. 
Labor  is  both  less  skilled  and  less  expensive  the  further 
you  remove  from  the  larger  cities ;  while  material — 
such  as  brick  or  lumber — may  of  course  be  obtained  at 
a  cheaper  price  nearer  the  place  where  it  is  made  or 
milled. 

189 


190  THE  HOUSE 

FAVORABLE  SEASON 

Besides  labor  and  material,  it  must  be  remembered 
that,  throughout  the  country,  the  selected  location  and 
the  individual  contractor  are  factors  that  may  influence 
considerably  the  cost  of  a  building.  A  distant  or  in- 
accessible location,  far  from  city,  railroad,  or  water, 
increases  the  expense  of  obtaining  material  on  the 
ground.  The  individual  contractor  figures  more  when 
work  is  plenty  and  his  own  concern  is  carrying  along 
several  contracts,  than  when  there  is  less  building,  or 
when  it  happens  that  he  is  completing  most  of  the  work 
upon  which  he  is  engaged.  In  a  year  when  building  is 
very  general  in  any  locality,  that  fact  will  increase  the 
average  cost  of  building ;  unless  a  contractor  is  discov- 
ered who  is  not  sharing  in  the  general  prosperity  and 
rush  of  business.  Even  in  a  busy  year,  it  will  gener- 
rally  be  less  expensive  to  start  a  building  in  the  fall 
than  in  the  spring — provided  it  is  started  early  enough 
to  complete  the  mason  work  before  the  frost  sets  in — 
and  so  leave  the  carpenter  to  carry  on  the  interior  fin- 
ish of  the  house  during  the  winter  months,  when  there 
is  generally  less  demand  for  the  services  of  his  trade. 

THE  ARCHITECT  A  FACTOR 

Thus  far  the  individual  owner  or  designer  of  the 
house  has  no  control  over  its  cost ;  but  there  are  many 
ways — some  of  which  ma}-  not  be  generally  known — 
in  which  the  arrangement  of  the  plan  and  the  treat- 
ment of  the  rooms  or  the  exterior  of  the  dwelling 
may  become  quite  a  factor  in  determining  the  compara- 


COST  OF  BUILDING  191 

live  cheapness  or  unnecessary  expense  of  constructing 
the  building. 

When  making  his  drawings,  every  conscientious 
architect  should  keep  in  mind  those  facts  that  he  knows 
to  affect  the  expense  of  a  building,  for  there  are  many 
technical  points  of  which  it  is  impossible  for  the  owner 
himself  to  be  awrare,  that  may  exercise  a  considerable 
result  toward  adding  or  saving  expense  upon  his 
dwelling.  Certain  of  these  may  have  to  be  explained 
to  the  owner  before  he  \vill  allow  of  some  changes 
from  his  first  idea  which  their  consideration  may 
necessitate.  Others  are  too  many  and  too  involved  for 
him  to  bother  with,  but  must  nevertheless  be  kept  in 
mind  by  the  architect  while  he  is  evolving  both  plan 
and  design  of  the  building. 

SIMPLE  PLANS  LEAST  EXPENSIVE 

As  a  general  rule,  it  may  be  said  that  a  house  in 
which  the  plan  is  simple  and  uninvolved,  with  square 
angles  and  rooms  large  rather  than  small,  and  with 
stories  not  too  high,  can  be  built  at  a  somewhat  less 
proportionate  expense  than  an  arrangement  of  which 
the  reverse  is  true.  It  is  not  the  plastering  of  a  plain 
wall  surface  nor  the  laying  of  a  floor  in  the  centre  of 
the  room  that  takes  time  and  extra  labor;  but  rather 
the  work  in  the  corners  and  angles  of  walls  and  ceiling, 
the  fitting  of  the  .border  strips  of  the  floor  around  jogs 
and  angles  in  the  plan — where  material  is  sawn  with  a 
waste  and  extra  labor  is  required  to  complete  the  work 
— all  expense  that  would  be  saved  on  a  simpler  struc- 
ture, with  fewer  rooms  and  their  less  fussy  disposition. 


192  THE  HOUSE 

A  chimney  costs  less  coming  in  a  brick  exterior  wall 
that  when  isolated  in  the  centre  of  a  building;  unless 
by  so  doing  it  is  possible  to  make  it  take  care  of  three 
or  four  rooms  upon  each  floor  instead  of  only  one — 
as  might  be  true  of  the  other  location.  A  single  plumb- 
ing fixture  placed  by  itself  costs  proportionately  much 
more  than  two  or  three  grouped  together;  while  if 
they  can  be  arranged  to  come  over  each  other  from 
basement  to  attic,  a  very  considerable  reduction  in  the 
cost  of  labor  and  piping  may  be  effected. 

INSTALLATION  ADDS  TO  COST  OF  FIXTURES 

It  is  comparatively  easy  to  give  the  cost  of  a  door, 
a  window,  a  screen — or  whatever  other  detail  may  be 
required  in  the  construction  of  the  house — but  it  must 
be  remembered  that  this  single  item  does  not  nearly 
express  the  cost  of  installing  that  individual  fixture 
within  the  building.  The  door  requires  hardware  and 
finish  around  the  opening;  the  window  the  same,  as 
well  as  presupposing  the  addition  of  blinds,  screens, 
and,  finally,  in  the  furnishing  of  the  house,  curtains 
and  hangings ;  while  always  there  is  an  additional  item 
— which  cannot  be  expressed  so  definitely  in  figures — • 
to  cover  the  labor  of  making  and  framing  the  opening, 
of  furring  and  plastering  around  it,  and  otherwise 
supplying  the  various  extra  material  and  time  neces- 
sary before  the  fixture  may  be  actually  set  in  place. 

SMALL  HOUSES  LESS  PRETENTIOUS,  SO  LESS  EXPENSIVE 

As  a  rule  the  small  house  costs  less  per  square  foot 
of  the  area  it  covers  than  the  large  house,  but  this  is 
merely  because  the  house  of  larger  first  floor  surface 


COST  OF  BUILDING  193 

general!)  presupposes  a  dwelling  more  expensive  in 
finish  and  design.  If  the  larger  structure  were  built 
with  the  same  finish,  with  as  proportionately  few  door 
and  window  openings,  it  could  actually  be  carried  out 
at  a  less  cost  per  foot  of  area  than  when  condensed  in 
a  dwelling  of  smaller  size ;  although  heating  and 
plumbing  would  average  a  slightly  higher  cost  per  fix- 
ture in  the  larger  dwelling,  because  of  the  longer  runs 
of  piping  required. 

INITIAL  COST  AND  TOTAL  COST 

Some  years'  experience  has  tended  to  prove  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  writer  that  the  owner  is  too  much 
inclined  to  look  only  to  the  initial  cost  of  his  dwelling 
and  allows  it  to  govern  too  greatly  his  determination 
of  plan  and  selection  of  materials;  when,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  a  somewhat  broader  point  of  view  would  in 
the  end  save  him  a  considerable  amount  of  money  upon 
the  total  of  his  investment.  The  installation  of  cheap 
floors,  for  instance,  demands  their  eventual  treatment 
with  paint,  carpet  or  other  material — wearing  out  con- 
stantly and  requiring  as  constant  renewal  or  repair  at 
a  cost  that,  while  comparatively  small  yearly,  in  the 
end  totals  up  to  a  pretty  considerable  sum.  A  porch 
floor  much  exposed  to  weather  or  storms  could  fre- 
quently be  originally  laid  in  brick  or  rough  tile  at  a 
cost  but  slightly  more  than  finishing  it  in  hard  pine, 
which  latter  demands  yearly  treatment  by  the  painter 
and  probable  renewal,  in  part  or  in  whole,  every  few 
MB*. 


194  THE  HOUSE 

It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that  while  the  best  of 
these  suggested  materials  costs  but  a  little  more  in  the 
first  instance  than  the  less  expensive  and  far  less  per- 
manent coverings,  and  while  it  will  indisputably  earn 
back  its  extra  initial  cost  in  the  mere  saving  of  labor 
and  maintenance;  there  is  still  another  point  of  view 
from  which  the  prospective  owner  of  a  building  should 
closely  regard  this  investment,  and  that  is  as  to  its 
appreciation  in  value  in  case  it  becomes  at  any  time 
desirable  to  sell  or  dispose  of  the  property.  There  are 
few  people  who  can  afford  to  entirely  disregard  this 
practical  and  commonsense  point  of  view,  even  when 
planning  so  sentimental  a  problem  as  the  home.  This 
fact,  if  properly  regarded,  will  rightly  influence  to  a 
certain  extent  the  plan  and  arrangement  of  the  house, 
keeping  it  from  departing  too  far  from  the  conven- 
tional, and  so  preventing  the  use  of  extreme,  outre, 
and  fantastic  ideas ;  while  the  well  constructed  modern 
appearing  house  of  plaster  or  brick  is  always  more 
readily  salable  and  at  a  much  better  price. 

EXTERIOR  FINISH 

The  walls  of  a  house  may  be  covered  upon  the  exte- 
rior cheapest  with  clapboards,  which  require  painting 
at  least  every  two  years  and  sometimes  oftener. 
Shingles — those  obtainable  to-day — a  somewhat  better 
and  more  expensive  wooden  covering,  are  not  of  very 
long  life  and  require  considerable  attention,  whether, 
stained  or  left  to  weather ;  while  they  are  at  their  best 


COST  OF  BU1LDIXG  -195 

in  appearance  for  what  is,  after  all,  a  relatively  short 
period. 

Plaster  as  an  exterior  covering  is  somewhat  more 
expensive  but,  with  the  exception  of  cracks  and  checks 
of  merely  surface  extent,  is  a  much  more  durable  and 
attractive  material.  In  many  sections  of  the  country 
and  in  the  suburbs  of  most  of  our  cities,  brick — the 
rough-textured  hard-burnt  cherry-red  kind  is  now  con- 
sidered best  and  most  artistic — may  be  used  either  for 
a  solid  wall  or  for  an  outer  covering  veneered  upon 
the  w-ooden  frame  at  a  cost  so  little  in  excess  of  wood, 
that  it  will  make  up  for  its  first  additional  expense 
within  a  half-dozen  years,  while  its  aesthetic  advantages 
are  of  course  obvious.  Its  use  insures  a  permanent 
outer  covering,  proof  against  injury  by  weather  or 
common  accident,  while  it  allows  of  the  close  sur- 
rounding of  the  dwelling  by  trees  and  the  growing  of 
vines  directly  over  the  wall  surface — important  con- 
siderations in  the  environment  and  appearance  of  the 
modern  dwelling. 

An  idea  of  the  comparative  cost  of  the  exterior  fin- 
ish materials  mentioned  may  be  obtained  by  contrast- 
ing the  difference  between  their  cost — on  the  house — 
over  a  surface  of  100  square  feet  (a  "square"  in  build- 
ers' measure),  or  10x10  feet  in  dimension. 

Clapboards  (painted  3  coats) 

$10.00  per  LOO  sq.  ft. 

Shingles  (natural)   9.00  per  100  sq.  ft. 

Shingles  (stained)    10.25  Per  TO°  stl-  ft- 


ig6  THE  HOUSE 

Plaster  (3  coats  on  metal  lath) 

T2.ooper  loosq.  ft. 

Brick  veneer 15.00  per  100  sq.  ft. 

Brick  12-inch  wail 40.00 per  loosq.  ft. 

The  above  amounts  will  vary  with  the  varying 
prices  of  the  materials  named  in  the  different  sections 
of  the  country.  The  estimate  on  brick,  for  instance, 
figures  that  the  selected  hard  burnt  brick  can  be  ob- 
tained at  about  $11.00  a  thousand,  which  is  not  ex- 
orbitant for  some  sections,  while  in  other  portions  of 
the  country  the  rate  may  increase  the  cost  of  common 
brick  to  $18.00  or  $19.00  a  thousand. 

The  sudden  increase  in  price  between  the  brick 
veneered  house  and  the  brick  1 2-inch  walled  house 
does  not  show  the  proportionate  costs  of  these  two 
ways  of  constructing  a  dwelling;  as  the  last  item  in- 
cludes also  the  support  of  the  building  itself,  whereas 
in  all  the  others  there  is  to  be  added  to  the  cost  of  the 
exterior  surface  finish  covering,  the  cost  of  the  stud- 
ding, boarding  and  papering  (both  the  materials  and 
the  labor  of  setting  in  place).  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  house  built  with  a  1 2-inch  solid  wall  would  not 
now  cost  over  10  per  cent  more  than  the  brick  veneered 
dwelling,  after  allowing  for  cost  of  studded  wall  be- 
hind the  brick  exterior  veneer. 

METHODS  OF  ESTIMATING  COSTS 

The  two  most  common  means  of  estimating  the  cost 
of  a  dwelling  are  (i)  judging  of  the  comparative 
amount  and  expense  of  its  finish — including  masonry, 
frame,  floors,  \valls  and  ceilings — and  establishing  a 


COST  OF  BUILDIXG 


197 


(A)   COTTAGE  AT  BASS  ROCK.  MASS. 

rate  per  square  foot  of  the  area  covered  by  the  first 
floor  and  so  arriving  at  the  total  cost  of  the  dwelling ; 
or  (2)  figuring  up  its  cubical  contents — from  cellar 
floor  to  roof — and  then  as  arbitrarily  setting  a  price 
per  cubic  foot,  and  so  obtaining  an  approximate  total 
estimate.  Both  of  these  means  may  be  employed,  the 
one  to  check  the  other.  While  the  first  method  seems 
the  somewhat  rougher  and  more  hit  or  miss,  it  is  yet, 
granted  the  estimator  has  the  judgment  and  experience 
to  propertly  set  the  square  foot  cost — both  the  quick- 
est and  the  one  that  is  in  most  cases  sufficiently  exact 
for  obtaining  approximate  estimates.  As  nowadays 


198 


THE  HOUSE 


(B)    COTTAGE  AT  BASS  ROCK. 

there  is  but  little  difference  in  the  height  of  stories  in 
the  house  of  average  expense,  the  second,  while  appar- 
ently the  more  careful  and  accurate,  is  after  all  hardly 
any  more  certain.  The  accuracy  of  both  will  depend 
upon  the  amount  allowed  for  the  square  or  cube-foot 
cost,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  the  correctness  of  this 
item  depends  altogether  on  the  experience  of  the  in- 
dividual making  the  calculation. 

The  figures  given  per  square  or  cube  foot  that  fol- 
low, are  based  upon  prices  in  the  vicinity  of  eastern 
Massachusetts,  and  include,  dwellings,  on  good  founda- 
tions, plastered  inside  and  finished  in  pine  or  white 
wood,  painted  and  stained,  with  hard  pine  floors,  sim- 


COST  OF  BUILDING  199 

pie  but  good  bath  room  fixtures,  and  with  heating  and 
plumbing,  a  laundry,  and  a  cemented  cellar  under  the 
completed  house.  It  should  also  include  a  couple  of 
chimneys,  clapboarded  or  shingled  walls,  and  any  small 
sized  simple  porch,  without  additional  allowance  of 
area.  For  a  large  porch,  or  one  having  many  columns 
and  elaborate  balustrades,  some  additional  allowance 
must  be  made.  If  the  second  story  is  built  out  over 
the  piazza,  between  one-half  and  two-thirds  of  the 
area  it  covers  should  be  added  to  the  area  of  the  first 
floor  before  multiplying  by  the  cost  price  per  foot. 
No  fixtures  for  lighting,  no  shades,  or  draperies, 
stoves,  papering  or  other  furnishings  are  included  in 
the  amounts  given. 

For  a  dwelling  of  about  1,000  or  1,500  square  feet 
area,  containing  eight  to  ten  rooms,  the  price  per 
square  foot  will  vary  between  $3.00  and  $3.50,  and 
the  cubical  contents  could  be  estimated  at  from  ice 
to  I2c  a  cubic  foot.  A  house  having  eight  rooms  and 
covering  1,000  square  feet,  at  $3.00  a  foot  would  cost 
$3,000.00;  and  a  ten-room  dwelling  with  1,500  feet 
area  at  $3.50  a  foot  w-ould  cost  $5,250.00.  The  smaller 
dwelling,  allowing  30  feet  for  its  height,  at  loc  a 
cubic  foot,  would  cost  $3,000;  and  the  other  dwelling, 
the  same  height — but  larger  size — at  I2c  per  cubic  foot 
would  come  to  $5,100.00.  Such  a  building,  with  better 
interior  and  exterior  finish  or  more  expensive  fittings 
or  design,  would  possibly  run  to  $4.00  a  square  foot 
( $4,000  on  the  small  house,  $6,000  on  the  large)  or 


200  THE  HOUSE 

150  ($4,500  to  $6,750,  on  the  two  houses)  or  more  per 
cubic  foot. 

If  intended  for  a  summer  cottage,  without  some  of 
the  various  items  which  become  necessities  in  a  dwell- 
ing used  all  the  year — such  as  interior  plastering,  base- 
ment laundry,  furnace  heat,  etc., — the  cost  might  be 
reduced  to  the  neighborhood  of  $2.50  a  square  foot 
($2,500  to  $3,750)  and  8c  and  gc  a  cubic  foot  ($2,400 
to  $4,050)  ;  while  in  exceptional  instances,  where  lo- 
cal conditions  were  favorable  and  the  plan  was  inex- 
pensive in  arrangement  and  treatment,  it  might  even 
be  possible  to  get  the  cost  down  as  low  as  $2.00  per 
square  foot. 

For  a  somewhat  larger  house,  say  from  1,500  to 
2,500  feet  area,  the  cost  would  run  from  $3.50  to  $4.50 
per  square  foot,  with  a  mean  average  of  $4.00  ($6,000 
to  $10,000)  ;  and  from  I2c  to  i6c  per  cubic  foot.  This 
would  mean  a  total  cost  of  from  $5,450  for  the  smaller 
size  and  price,  to  $12,000  for  the  larger.  If  of  2,500 
feet  area  or  over,  the  price  would  run  at  an  average 
of  $5.00  a  square  foot,  and  the  cubic  foot  cost  from 
i5c  to  i8c. 

Such  small  dwellings  as  those  shown  at  A  and  B, 
consisting  of  9  rooms  each  and  containing  almost  ex- 
actly the  same  amount  of  area  (1,026  and  1,040  square 
feet  respectively)  and  cubical  contents  (30,780  and 
31,200)  would  agree  with  the  rules  given.  At  $3.00  a 
square  foot  they  would  cost  $3,078  and  $3,120;  at  loc 
the  cubic  foot  the  same  respective  figures.  House  A 


COST  OF  BUILDING  ->oi 

actually  cost  just  over  $2,800  and  House  B,  about  $3,- 
200. 

The  Colonial  House  containing  more  elaborately  de- 
signed finish,  Oak  and  Maple  floors  and  mahogany 
doors  and  mantels  comes  into  quite  another  class.  Cov- 
ering about  2,658  sq.  feet  and  allowing  for  porches 
310  sq.  feet  more  (about  one-third  their  area — they 
are  only  half  covered)  a  total  of  2,968  sq.  feet  is  the 
result.  At  $6.00  a  foot  this  equals  $17,898;  and  its 
cubic  contents — 100,912  ft.  at  i8c  a  foot — equals  $18,- 
164.16.  The  cost  of  this  house  ran  somewhat  over 
$18,000.  (See  page  — .) 

ITEMS  IN  THE  CONTRACT 

On  a  five  thousand  dollar  wooden  frame  house,  the 
various  items  included  in  the  contract  would  probably 
average  about  as  follows  : 

Foundation  and  Chimney   $    680 

Framing    420 

Lathing  and  Plastering   350 

Interior  Finish 320 

Exterior  Fnish   225 

Painting    275 

Plumbing    490 

Heating  System 320 

Hardware   125 

Carpenter    Labor    1,625 

4-830 
Architect  (5%  of  the  cost) 241.50 

$5.071-50 


202  THE  HOUSE 

.  Of  course  hard  digging  or  gravel  on  the  lot  would 
increase  or  lower  the  cost  of  this  item,  while  the  sum 
set  aside  for  "finish,"  inside  and  out,  depends  alto- 
gether upon  the  design  of  the  dwelling.  While  this 
schedule  will  vary  somewhat  in  its  different  items  in 
almost  every  instance,  still  as  it  was  compiled  from 
averages  obtained  from  a  number  of  small  houses  of 
about  the  same  size  and  cost,  but  of  different  styles, 
it  should  prove  approximately  correct,  sufficiently  so 
at  least,  to  act  as  a  guide  for  obtaining  the  preliminary 
estimates. 

The  above  tabulation  is  based  solely  upon  an  ap- 
proximate size  of  house  with  the  average  correspond- 
ing quality  of  finish  and  architectural  treatment  that 
would  ordinarily  be  expected  to  accompany  an  Ameri- 
can dwelling  of  that  size.  It  must  be  remembered 
however,  that  these  figures  merely  offer  a  mean  basis 
for  comparison.  If  expensive  systems  of  plumbing  and 
heating  are  installed,  if  hard  wood  is  used  largely  for 
finish  and  oak  for  floors,  if  the  mantels  are  elaborate 
and  the  rooms  are  finished  with  beam  ceilings  and 
dados,  the  expense  can  be  run  up  very  quickly  to  far 
beyond  these  approximate  figures;  while  on  the  other 
hand,  by  keeping  the  finish  down  and  with  an  econom- 
ically arranged  plan  and  disposition  and  installation 
of  plumbing,  heating,  etc.,  it  is  oftentimes  possible  to 
obtain  an  attractive  and  modestly  designed  home  at  a 
corresponding  reduction  from  the  estimates  given. 

It  is  always  possible,  for  instance,  for  the  architect 


COST  OF  BUILD1\'C  203 

to  use  a  porch  finish — as  on  the  cottages  A  and  B, — • 
that  will  be  both  simple  and  effective,  for  a  sum  which 
will  be  considerably  less  than  a  finish  much  the  same 
in  appearance,  but  requiring  heavier  stock  and  more 
workmanship ;  and  this  depends  largely  upon  the  judg- 
ment and  training  of  the  architect  as  well  as  his  dis- 
position and  judgment  of  his  client's  actual  desires. 
The  finish  on  the  first  cottage  (A)  is  simpler  in  ef- 
fect but  in  reality  about  as  costly  as  the  columns  and 
simple  rail  shown  on  the  second  small  dwelling  (B). 
Such  balustrades  and  columns  as  on  the  porches  of 
the  Colonial  house  at  Wellesley,  however,  will  cost 
more  than  double  the  simpler  porch  finish  of  those  cot- 
tages. 

THE  IDEAL  AND  THE  REAL 

It  rarely  happens  that  the  house-builders  ideas  of 
what  he  wants  to  pay  and  his  requirements  as  to 
number  of  rooms,  their  size  and  location,  are  co-or- 
dinated one  to  the  other.  Almost  invariably  his  de- 
sires are  greater  than  his  set  limit  of  price  can  secure. 
Also  he  is  not  to  be  satisfied  with  the  architect's  mere 
statement  of  this  fact ;  but  is  only  convinced  by  hav- 
ing the  house  that  he  desires  drawn  out  and  esti- 
mated ;  when  he  either  has  to  cut  it  down,  and  so 
sacrifice  many  of  his  pet  ideas,  or  else  make  up  his 
mind  to  pay  the  larger  amount  that  his  ideal  will  cost. 
Generally  a  satisfactory  compromise  is  arrived  at.  Cer- 
tain things  he  is  willing  to  give  up;  certain  others  he 
is  willing  to  pay  for  the  privilege  of  securing. 


204  '-/'//;•  HOUSE 

The  architect  is  often  confronted  by  a  client  demand- 
ing a  house  at  a  cost  and  of  a  size  that  will  not  pos- 
sibly give  him  the  kind  of  dwelling  that  he  really  de- 
sires and  with  which  alone  he  will  be  satisfied.  If  the 
mistake  is  made  of  starting  a  plan  intended  to  meet 
the  clients  expressed  wishes,  either  the  house  when 
finally  built  will  cost  greatly  more  than  such  a  plan 
rightly  demands ;  or  the  scheme  is  abandoned  and  an 
arrangement  better  suited  to  the  client's  needs  sub- 
stituted in  its  place.  In  the  first  event  the  client  re- 
mains forever  unsatisfied ;  and  in  the  latter  much  un- 
necessary time  and  energy  has  been  lost  by  both  par- 
ties. If  the  owner — as  frequently  happens — states  at 
the  first  an  amount  less  than  he  actually  intends  to 
expend,  a  similar  result  is  to  be  expected. 

COST  OF  FIXTURES 

The  cost  of  the  various  items  that  go  to  make  up 
the  house  may  be  stated  with  fair  exactitude,  although 
it  is  doubtful  if  the  attempt  to  estimate  such  minor 
details  is  not,  after  all,  more  confusing  than  beneficial 
to  one  inexperienced  in  house  building;  as  all  these 
details  are  already  included  in  the  general  methods 
just  given  for  approximately  estimating  the  cost  of 
the  completed  dwelling. 

For  plumbing,  it  is  possible  to  say  that  the  cost  of 
installation — including  labor  and  simple  but  good  fix- 
tures— will  average  from  $50  to  $75  per  fixture,  de- 
pending upon  whether  the  house  is  small  or  large; 
while  if  more  elaborate  or  expensive  individual  fix- 


COST  OF  BUILDIXC  205 

tures  are  employed,  the  cost  may  run  to  over  $100 
an  outlet. 

For  heating,  the  hot  air  furnace  should  cost  be- 
tween $20  and  $25  per  register  in  the  small  house, 
while  running  to  perhaps  $30  or  more  on  a  larger 
dwelling.  If  a  combination  hot  air  and  hot  water  heat- 
er is  used,  it  may  average  from  $35  to  $40  an  outlet. 
For  steam,  the  cost  on  a  small  or  large  house  will 
probably  vary  from  $40  to  $45  per  radiator  with  an 
additional  25  per  cent  increase  for  hot  water. 

It  is  customary  in  some  sections  to  estimate  from  a 
dollar  to  $1.25  an  outlet  for  gas;  and  about  $1.50  or 
$1.75  an  outlet  for  electricity,  the  latter  sum  including 
switches  as  an  outlet,  wherever  they  occur. 

Window  screens  may  be  obtained  for  from  about 
$1.25  to  $2.25  a  window,  depending  upon  the  material 
of  the  frame  and  the  quality  of  the  wire  employed; 
the  lower  price  being  for  wood  frame  and  steel  jap- 
anned mesh,  while  the  more  expensive  would  generally 
cover  the  cost  of  a  metal  and  bronze  wire  window 
screen.  Screen  doors  of  pine  will  run  corresponding- 
ly from  $6.00  to  $7.50  apiece ;  with  metal  weather 
strips  for  windows  at  about  $2.00  to  $2.50  and  for 
doors  from  $3.50  to  $4.00  an  opening. 

The  cost  of  doors  and  windows  depends  upon  both 
their  design  and  material.  Stock  doors  of  the  cross 
panel,  or  four  upright  panel,  type  can  be  obtained  in 
so-called  pine  (generally  actually  Washington  Fir), 
Carolina  Hard  pine,  or  Birch  for  about  $2.50  apiece. 


206  THE  HOUSE 

The  frames  will  cost  from  $1.25  to  $1.50,  and  the 
architrave  finish  upon  both  sides  probably  $2.00  more, 
making  each  opening  cost  about  $6.00  or  with  hard- 
ware a  total  of  about  $8.00  a  door;  not  allowing  any- 
thing, however,  for  labor  in  fitting,  hanging,  and  fin- 
ishing around  openings,  etc. 

A  window  costs — for  the  frame — between  $2.50  and 
$3.50,  with  sash  costing  from  $2.00  to  $3.00  and,  with 
hardware  and  architrave  finish,  the  whole  would  prob- 
ably run  to  about  $10.00  an  opening. 

These  sums  will  only  apply  to  those  sizes  and  de- 
signs that  are  near  enough  to  the  stock  patterns  to 
be  handled  by  the  concerns  manufacturing  these  spe- 
cialties in  large  numbers.  For  special  mouldings,  de- 
signs and  sizes,  or  for  work  executed  in  more  ex- 
pensive wood,  such  as  oak  and  mahogany,  a  consider- 
able difference  in  cost  will  at  once  manifest  itself. 

Storm  windows  range  from  $1.50  to  $2.50;  with 
window  blinds  at  between  $1.00  and  $1.50  an  opening. 

A  fireplace  will  cost  about  $40.00  for  facing  and 
hearth  with  about  $30.00  more  for  a  mantel.  This  is 
additional  to  cost  of  chimney.  It  will  add  perhaps 
$25.00  to  the  latter  for  each  fireplace  after  the  first 
one  it  carries.  In  more  important  rooms  the  mantel 
will  cost  more  than  the  sum  given ;  in  bedrooms  suit- 
able facings  may  be  obtained  for  less;  but  the  above 
amounts  will  stand  for  fair  averages. 


COST  OF  BUILD1XG  207 

COST  OF  FINISHING  WOODS 

The  cost  of  woods  for  finish — as  has  already  been 
said — varies  in  different  sections  of  the  country  so 
extensively  from  time  to  time,  that  it  is  impossible  to 
give  any  exact  price  by  which  they  may  be  compared. 
In  general,  however,  they  bear  a  certain  relation  to 
each  other  which  may  be  suggested  by  the  order  in 
which  they  are  named.  In  most  portions  of  the  coun- 
try, cypress  and  whitewood  may  be  obtained  at  about 
the  same  price,  the  former  having  a  considerable  beauty 
of  grain,  and  the  latter  varying  in  color  from  white  to 
quite  dark.  It  becomes  more  and  more  difficult  year 
after  year  to  obtain  good  stock  in  the  cheaper  finishes, 
especially  in  whitewood.  While  both  shrink  rather  con- 
siderably, if  anything,  the  advantage  belongs  with  the 
cypress.  Hard  pine  and  ash  are  more  expensive  than 
the  first  named  materials  for  finish.  Sometimes  the 
latter  may  be  used  very  effectively  in  a  way  that  sug- 
gests oak. 

Birch  and  cherry,  or  redwood  and  cedar  are  em- 
ployed for  standing  finish  in  some  localities,  while  of 
late  years  spruce  has  begun  to  be  used  in  summer  cot- 
tages, as  it  is  somewhat  cheaper  and  not  much  more 
objectionable  than  the  "country  pine,"  which  is  about 
the  only  variety  of  this  wood  that  now  comes  writhin 
the  range  of  the  ordinary  pocket-book.  Both  redwood 
and  cedar  are  considerably  less  expensive  in  the  western 
part  of  the  country  than  in  the  east. 

Oak  is  an  expensive  finish  that  is  less  used  now  than 


2o8  THE  HOUSE 

a  few  years  ago,  when  its  popularity  almost  equalled 
that  obtained  by  black  walnut  in  the  preceding  decade. 
In  part  this  is  because  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  it  in  the 
best  grades,  and  often  a  selected  ash  will  give  a  finish 
quite  as  pleasing  as  that  of  the  lower  grades  of  the 
more  expensive  oak.  Mahogany  still  remains  the  fa- 
vorite wood  for  Colonial  finish  and  treatment,  but  on 
account  of  its  expense,  various  substitutes  for  it  are 
continually  being  used.  Of  these  cherry  and  syca- 
more are  the  most  common;  and  cherry,  by  the  way, 
may  in  its  turn  be  well  imitated  by  selecting  white- 
wood  and  then  finishing  it  carefully  over  a  stain. 

WHAT  IS  "FINISH"? 

Although  possible  materials  are  comparatively  few 
in  number;  of  variety  of  design  in  their  finish  and 
treatment  there  is  no  end.  The  word  "finish"  has, 
architecturally,  two  meanings.  In  one  sense  it  applies 
only  to  the  surface  treatment  and  protection  of  the 
woodwork,  in  which  case  its  consideration  comes  en- 
tirely within  the  province  of  the  painter;  but  there  is 
a  broader  meaning  than  this,  where  it  applies  to  the 
woodwork  used  for  the  final  covering  on  both  inside 
and  outside  of  the  house, — when  it  is  referred  to  as 
"interior  finish"  2nd  "exterior  finish,"  as  the  case  may 
be.  In  this  meaning  not  only  is  the  kind  of  wood  in- 
cluded, but  also  the  general  design  and  treatment 'in 
which  this  "finish"  is  carried  out.  It  may  be  said  that 
a  room  is  "finished  in  hardwood" (there  meaning  the 
material  alone")  ;  "finished  in  shellac"  (here  referring 


20Q 

only  to  its  painted  applied  surface) ;  or  "finished  in 
the  Jacobean  style"  (here  referring  only  to  the  ar- 
chitecural  design  and  treatment  of  the  walls  and  ceil- 
ing of  the  room).  Of  the  materials  for  interior  finish 
something  has  already  been  said.  As  to  its  method 
of  treatment  by  the  painter,  this  should  often  be  de- 
cided by  the  style  of  design  of  the  room ;  to  which 
certain  finishes  only  are  sometimes  appropriate. 

PAINTING  OF  INTERIOR  WOODWORK 

A  room  .  of  Colonial  design  is  ordinarily  best  car- 
ried out  in  cream-white  painted  woodwork,  as  was  done 
in  most  residences  of  the  Colonial  period,  frequently 
the  doors  being  of  mahogany.  This  offers  a  pleasure- 
able  contrast,  and  the  white  woodwork  is  best  adapted 
to  showing  off  the  delicate  furniture  of  that  period, 
generally  mahogany,  with  which  a  room  of  this  style 
only  should  be  furnished.  Occasionally,  a  room  in  a 
\ery  elaborate  dwelling  may  be  carried  out  entirely  in 
mahogany,  although  this  was  rarely  done  in  actual  Co- 
lonial times ;  where  occasional  rooms — such  as  halls  or 
libraries — were  almost  as  rarely  finished  in  oak.  A 
room  of  English  architectural  character  may  be  most 
appropriately  carried  out  in  oak.  stained  dark  in  tone. 
Less  frequently  rooms  of  this  period  were  executed 
in  mahogany  or  Wclnut  and  very  often  their  wood- 
work was  painted  arid  handled  in  a  way  not  unlike 
our  present  so-called  "Colonial"  finish.  The  modern 
English,  or  so-called  "mission  style"  of  furniture,  re- 
quires room  backgrounds  of  similar  simplicity  and 


2io  THE  HOUSE 

with  oak  or  ash  finish  stained  and  treated  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  furniture  itself.  Sometimes  appropriate 
and  simple  rooms  of  modern  design  may  have  their 
standing  finish — even  when  of  a  soft  wood  or  white- 
wood — stained  and  finished  in  a  like  manner. 

Painted  woodwork  should  receive  one  coat  of  shel- 
lac varnish  to  prevent  the  sap,  which  is  now  very 
frequently  in  the  wood  placed  upon  the  market,  from 
coming  through  and  staining  the  surface  of  the  paint. 
Upon  this  first  coat  there  should  be  applied  four  coats 
of  paint,  this  number  being  about  the  least  that  can 
be  depended  upon  to  thoroughly  cover  the  stock.  Even 
then,  if  whitewood  and  pine  are  used  side  by  side—- 
such as  for  architraves  and  door,  for  instance — it  is 
quite  possible  that  a  difference  between  the  two  colors 
of  white  may  be  noticeable,  the  pine  door  being  of 
a  warmer,  creamier  tone  and  the  whitewood  being  a 
little  more  toward  the  gray  white.  The  least  expen- 
sive way  of  finishing  painted  woodwork  is  to  put  a 
little  varnish  in  the  last  coat  and  so  impart  a  slight 
gloss  to  the  surface. 

When  the  more  expensive  enamel  finish  is  desired, 
the  painter  uses  more  stock  and  each  coat  of  paint  is 
rubbed  down  with  felt  and  pumice-stone  until  it  is 
given  a  dull  lustre  or  flat  polish.  From  six  'to  eight 
coats  of  paint  are  necessary  to  obtain  the  best  effects. 
Such  painted  finish  should  only  go -over  certain  kinds 
of  moulded  woodwork,  as  where  many  sharp  exterior 
angle?  break  up  the  surface,  the  painters  are  likely  to 


COST  OF  BUILDING  211 

rub  entirely  through  the  paint  down  to  the  surface 
of  the  wood,  which  is  then  exposed  and  left  unprotect- 
ed at  these  places. 

FINISHING  OF  HARD  WOODS 

Where  mahogany  is  finished  to  go  with  Colonial 
white  woodwork,  it  should  be  shellaced  and  varnished 
four  to  six  coats  in  all.  Each  coat  of  varnish  should 
be  rubbed  down  to  the  same  dead  lustre  that  is  found 
in  old  furniture.  The  better  the  finish,  the  greater 
number  of  coats  will  be  of  varnish  and  the  fewer  of 
shellac,  as  the  more  expensive  varnish  furnishes  the 
better  surface  for  wear  and  polish.  Any  surface  where 
water  or  hot  pans  and  dishes  may  be  placed,  such  as 
the  upper  shelf  in  a  side-board  or  a  table  top,  if  of 
hardwood,  should  be  finished,  polished  and  rubbed 
down  in  oil ;  if  the  ordinary  stock  is  used,  it  will  show 
all  the  marks  made  by  w-ater  or  heat,  while  with  an 
oiled  surface  such  blemishes  can  be  easily  wiped  off 
with  a  damp  rag. 

Where  oak  is  used  for  "standing  finish"  (i.  e.  the 
upright  wood-moulded  finish  placed  upon  the  walls  of 
a  room,  and  around  doors  and  windows,  including 
base  or  mop  boards,  etc.,}  it  should  be  finished  in 
shellac  or  varnishj  or  with  a  waxed  surface,  according 
to  the  effect  desired.  Wax  treatment  is  generally  giv- 
en by  using  a  semi-fluid  composition  which  is  put  upon 
the  wood  with  a  fag,  and  then  polished  as -dully  or  as 
highly  as  may  be  desired.  Hardwood,  along  with  cy- 
pres's,'  white  wood  and  pine  or  spruce,  are  frequently 


212  THE  HOUSE 

stained  in  order  to  bring  out  the  grain  and  fibre  of 
the  wood  the  more  effectively.  Some  of  the  best  mod- 
ern finish,  especially  that  on  furniture  and  fine  cabinet 
work,  is  now  obtained  by  means  of  burning  the  wood 
with  acid  or  ammonia,  or  "fuming"  and  smoking  it, 
and  so  bringing  out  the  grain  in  this  way  instead  of 
by  a  liquid  stain,  which  is  too  likely  to  fill  up,  overlay 
and  obscure  the  grain  instead  of  bringing  it  out  to  the 
best  advantage.  The  staining  of  a  piece  of  wood  is 
always  the  first  thing  done;  the  remainder  of  the 
painters  finish,  the  shellac,  varnish,  wax,  etc.,  being 
applied  on  top  of  the  stain. 

STYLE  OR  DESIGN  OF  WORK 

As  to  the  style  of  treatment  of  the  woodwork  it  may 
be  that  in  the  matter  of  interior  house  finish  both 
client  and  architect  are  too  easily  and  generally  ruled 
by  conventional  ideas.  The  client  desires  to  reproduce 
the  appearance  of  a  room  sometime  seen  and  liked  by 
him,  without  regard  to  its  appropriate  relation  to  the 
atmosphere  of  the  rest  of  his  dwelling.  The  architect 
is  too  prone  to  follow  periods  and  styles  that,  in  the 
inexpensive  American  dwelling  at  least,  frequently  ap- 
pear over-pretentious  and  out  of  harmony  with  the 
life  of  its  occupants.  A  certain  amount  of  experimen- 
tation along  newer  lines  could  here  be  undertaken  with 
advantage  by  both  parties. 

In  the  summer  cottage  especially,  there  are  many 
ways  of  obtaining  attractive  effects  inexpensively  that 
are  perhaps  less  suitable  to  the  more  restrained  conven- 


COST  OF  BUILDING  213 

tions  surrounding  life  near  the  city,  or  to  the  dwelling 
inhabited  for  the  major  portion  of  the  year.  Rough 
plaster  stained  one  coat,  for  instance,  is  much  more 
attractive  than  the  same  color  rendered  monotonous 
in  tone  by  its  even  application  in  coatings  several  times 
repeated.  The  simpler  life  during  the  summer  allows 
of  the  introduction  of  the  element  of  accidental  in- 
formality into  the  design  of  the  country  or  sea-shore 
dwelling.  This  meaning  may  perhaps  be  best  and  most 
exactly  illustrated  by  quoting  actual  happenings  that 
have  come  within  the  writer's  immediate  experience. 

•   ACCIDENTAL  INFORMALITY" 

In  one  instance  a  dining  room  was  designed  with  a 
simple  panelled  effect  of  wide  boards  with  the  joints 
covered  by  narrow  moulded  "battens."  The  mill  get- 
ting out  the  finish  asked  for  further  time  to  complete 
the  contract  for  this  especial  room  as  they  had  not 
stock  of  sufficient  width  available,  except  some  which 
had  been  thrown  aside  as  imperfect  on  account  of  dis- 
coloration and  worm  holes.  The  curiosity  of  the  archi- 
tect being  aroused,  he  made  occasion  to  visit  the  yard 
to  see  this  stock  and  found  his  anticipations  more  than 
realized  by  discovering  it  to  be  a  whitewood  (the  ma- 
terial specified)  of  the  necessary  width,  to  be  sure,  but 
liberally  colored  in  beautiful  reds,  yellows,  browns, 
and  pinks,  while  the  figuring  of  the  wood  itself  varied 
greatly  from  light  to  a  rather  dark  tone  which  hand- 
•somely  brought  out  its  veining.  Realizing  the  possi- 
bilities, it  did  not  take  long  to  come  to  an  understand- 


2i4  THE  PIOUS E 

ing  with  the  contractors  whereby  they  were  only  too 
pleased  to  be  allowed  to  make  use  of  this  material, — 
and  affording  the  owner  a  considerable  reduction  for 
the  privilege ! — while,  by  changing  the  finishing  of  the 
wood  to  a  very  light  gray  stain  with  waxed  surface,  a 
room  in  appearance  quite  as  handsome  as  though  very 
expensive  imported  woods  had  been  employed  was 
finally  obtained  at  a  really  absurd  cost. 

Again;  an  unusual  delay  in  the  installation  of  some 
fireplace  facings  sufficiently  aroused  the  ire  of  the  ar- 
chitect to  cause  him  to  descend  upon  the  workshop 
of  the  defaulting  contractor  with  the  intention  of  re- 
lieving his  mind  orally  and  in  person.  The  visit  de- 
veloped the  fact  that  the  delay  had  been  caused  by  the 
shipment  from  the  factory  of  a  lot  of  tiles  which  did 
not  equal  the  sample  selected  by  architect  and  client, 
and  the  contractor  insisted  that  until  he  received  a 
shipment  of  perfect  material  from  the  factory,  he  could 
not  install  the  fireplaces  that  had  been  estimated.  The 
discolered  tile  being  exhibited,  it  took  but  a  glance  to 
perceive  that  whereas  the  sample  selected  had  been 
a  rather  flat  and  characterless  pale  cream-colored  tile ; 
these  "defective"  specimens  had  been  tinged  'in  their 
firing  by  varying  and  changing  modulated -tones  of  yel- 
lows,, umbers  and  browns,  in  just  such  a  way  as. to .  em- 
•phasize  their  design-  most  delicately,  and  to  form,  in 
combination,  a  fireplace  facing  and  hearth  of  much 
more  character  and  artistic  value  than  would  have  re- 
sulted if  the  original  intention  had  been  followed  out. 


COST  OP  BUILDING  215 

Of  course  both  of  these  opportunities  could  not  have 
been  availed  of  if  the  architect  had  not  been  sufficiently 
assured  of  his  client's  ability  to  appreciate  the  artistic 
and  unusual  effects  thus  accidentally  procured ;  yet  this 
"accidental"  element  appears  so  frequently  and  so  un- 
expectedly in  the  evolution  of  house  after  house  that 
to  obtain  the  best  results,  the  designer  and  his  client 
should  be  at  pains  to  work  together  harmoniously  and 
remain  open  to  accept  and  make  the  most  of  just  such 
accidental  happenings  as  they  arrive. 

HOW  TO  KEEP  THE  COST  DOWN 

If  one  were  asked  what  single  factor  most  added 
to  the  cost  of  a  building  there  could  be  no  doubt  but 
a  truthful  reply  would  be  that  changes  made  by  the 
owners  during  or  while  the  building  is  in  process 
of  construction  are  more  universally  the  cause  than 
any  other  one  thing.  Yet  this  in  itself  is  easily  avoid- 
able— provided  only  that  architect  and  owner  once  ar- 
rive at  a  perfect  understanding,  that  sufficient  time  is 
taken  before  actual  work  is  commenced  to  study  over 
the  possible  variations  in  plan  and  finish  and  to  mutual- 
ly decide  which  will  the  better  meet  the  points  in- 
volved— that  it  seems  inexcusable  that  such  should  be 
the  case.  But  time  after  time,  to  begin  actual  work 
but  means  the  beginning  of  making  changes  on  the 
plan,  until  additional  and  unnecessary  expense  is  in- 
curred to  an  amount  that  is  often  ridiculously  in  ex- 
cess of  the  benefits  achieved;  the  final  result  being 
rarely  as  good  as  the  arrangement  determined  upon 


216  THE  HOUSE 

in  the  first  instance.  Unless  one  is  accustomed  to  the 
different  aspects  under  which  a  building  and  its  in- 
dividual parts  will  appear  while  in  course  of  construc- 
tion, one  is  not  able  to  judge  what  its  effect  will  be 
when  completed.  The  unduly  small  and  apparently 
low  room,  when  only  studded  out  or  rough  plastered, 
appears  of  quite  different  and  much  more  capacious 
proportions  when  completed  and  finished ;  and  so  it 
goes  throughout  the  entire  dwelling,  until  the  old  an- 
swer to  the  jesting  query  as  to  "How  to  Build  a  Dwell- 
ing Cheaply,"  "Keep  the  Owner  Away  Until  It  Is  Fin- 
ished," is  proven  to  be  a  most  serious  and  learned  bit 
of  practical  philosophy. 


SUPPLEMENTAL  PROGRAM  FOR  CLASS  STUDY 

ON 

THE   HOUSE,  ITS   PLAN,   DECORATION,   AND    CARE 

By  ISABEL  BEVIER,  PH.  M. 


MEETING   I 
(Study  pages  1-20.) 
Evolution  of  the  House. 

Woman's   Share   in   Primitive   Culture.     Chapter   I.      ($1.75, 

postage  :6c.)     O.  T.  Mason. 
Household   Economics.     Chapter   II.      ($1.50,    postage    i6c.) 

Helen  Campbell. 

Evolution  of  the  Home.    Vol.  X,  Page  509.    Andover  Review. 
The  Dwellings  of  Primitive  Man.    House  Beautiful,  January, 

1904. 
Quiviras  and  the  Wichita  Grass  Houses.     Harpers,  Vol.  99, 

p.  126. 

The  House  Beauiful.     ($0.50,  postage  6c.)    W.  C.  Gannett. 
Topics:        Place  of  Architecture  in  Civilization 

Relation  of  Architecture  to  History  and  Art 
The  Home  as  the  Center  of  Life 


MEETING  II 

(Study  pages  20-47.) 
Development  of  the  American  House. 

American  Renaissance.     ($4.00,  postage  300.)     Joy  Wheeler 

Dow. 
Cost  of  Shelter.     Chapters  I  and  III.     ($1.00,  postage  IDC.) 

Ellen  H.  Richards. 
Early  Connecticut  Houses.     ($4.00,  postage  24C.)     Isham  and 

Brown. 
Homes  in  City  and  Country.     ($2.00,  postage  i8c.)     Sturgls, 

et  al. 
Stately  Homes  in  America.     ($7.50.)     Chapters  2,  3  and  4. 

Desmond  and  Croly. 


House  Beautiful.     ($2.50,  postage  200.)     Introduction.    Cook. 
Beautiful  Houses.     Chapters   i   and  2.      ($2.50,  postage  240.) 

Gibson. 
Evolution  of  Domestic  Life  in   America.     House  Beautiful, 

Voi.  XII,  p.  281. 

Topics:        Description  of  a  Colonial  House   (of  the  neigh- 
borhood) 

The  Apartment  House  as  Affecting  Family  Life 
The  House  of  the  Future. 

(Select  answers  to  test  questions  on  Part  I.  and  send  them 
to  *ie  School.) 

MEETING  III 

(Study  pages  49-98.) 

(.a)     The  Modern  House. 

Household  Economics.  Chapter  III.  ($1.50,  postage  l6c.) 
Helen  Campbell. 

Home  Economics.  Chapter  I.  ($1.50,  postage  i6c.)  Maria 
Parloa. 

The  Cost  of  Shelter.  Chapter  V.  ($1.00,  postage  xoc.)  El- 
len H.  Richards. 

(b)     House  Planning. 

How  to  Build  a  Home.  Pages  i-io.  (Out  of  print.)  F.  C. 
Moore. 

Home  Economics.  Chapter  I.  ($1.50,  postage  ice.)  Maria 
Parloa. 

House  that  Jill  Built.     ($1.00,  postage  IDC.)     E.  C.  Gardner. 

House  Planning.     ($1.00,  postage  8c.)     Osborne. 

The  House  Book.     ($1.50,  postage  I4C.)     Kline. 

The  Book  of  One  Hundred  Houses.  ($3.20,  postage  i6c.) 
From  The  House  Beautiful. 

Collect  plans  from  The  House  Beautiful,  The  Craftsman,  De- 
lineator, Ladies'  Home  Journal,  Architects'  and  Builders' 
Magazine,  Architectural  Record,  Etc. 

Topics:        House  Analysis,  or  Where  to  Begin  in  Planning. 
The  Aesthetic  Side  of  House  Planning,  or  Resi- 
dence Design. 
The  Ideal  Kitchen. 
(Select  answers  to  test  questions  on  Part  II.) 

ais 


MEETING  IV 

(Study  pages  101-102.) 

(a)  Construction  of  the  House. 

The   Farmstead.     Chapters   6  and  8.      ($1.25,   postage   I2C.) 

Roberts. 
Article  by  F.  C.  Brown,  Jan.,  Feb.,  March,  April,  '05,   Good 

Housekeeping. 
Stairs,    Windows,    Floors — See    series    in    House    Beautiful, 

1905-1906,  R.  C.  Spencer. 

(b)  Floors. 

Care   of   House.     Chapter    12.        ($1.50,   postage    i6c.)        T. 

M.  Clark. 
Home  Economics.     Chapter  12.     ($1.50,  postage  i6c.)     Maria 

Parloa. 
Topics:        Cost  of  Building. 

Woods  Used  in  House  Building. 
Outside  Finish. 


MEETING  V 
(Study  pages  123-151.) 

(a)  Decorating  and  Furnishing. 

Kinds  of  Art.  "Household  Economics."  Chapter  V.  ($1.50, 
postage  i6c.)  Campbell.  Also  see  Encyclopaedias. 

Principles  of  Home  Decoration.  ($1.80,  postage  i6c.)  Can- 
dace  Wheeler. 

Art  of  the  House.     (Out  of  print.)     Watson. 

Claims  of  Decorative  Art.     (Out  of  print.)     Walter  Crane. 

Household  Art.  Progress  of  American  Decorative  Art. 
($1.00,  postage  xoc.)  Wheeler. 

Household  Art.     Limits  of  Decoration.     Wheeler. 

Hopes  and  Fears  for  Art.  ($1.25,  postage  I2c.)  William 
Morris. 

Beginnings  of  Art.     ($1.75,  postage  I4C.)     Grosse. 

Philosophy  of  Beauty.  (Two  parts,  each  $1.00,  postage  IDC.) 
Knight. 

(b)  Household  Decoration. 

Household  Economics.  Chapter  6.  ($1.50,  postage  i6c.) 
Campbell. 

219 


Decoration  of  Houses.     ($2.50,  postage  2oc.)      Codman  and 

Wharton. 
Homes  and  their  Decorations.     ($3.00,  postage  26c.)     L.  H. 

French. 
Color  Harmony  and  Contrasts.     ($4.20,  postage  i6c;  printed 

in  colors.)  James  B.  Ward. 
(c)  Furnishings  and  Furniture. 
Household  Economics.  Chapter  6.  ($1.50,  postage  i6c.) 

Campbell. 
Furniture  of  Olden  Times.     ($3.00,  postage  24c.)     Alice  Cary 

Morse. 
See   Magazines — Country   Life   in   America,   Harper's   Bazar, 

House  Beautiful,  etc. 
Topics,:        Elimination  in  Furnishings 

The  Setting  for  the  House  or  the  Surroundings. 
Curtains — Their  Use  and  Abuse. 


MEETING  VI 
(Study  pages  152-165.) 

(a)  -Care  of  the  House. 

Home    Economics.      Chapters    14-16.      ($1.50,    postage    i6c.) 

Maria  Parloa. 
Care  of  the  House.    Chapter  12.     ($1.50,  postage  i6c.)     Clark. 

(b)  Conveniences. 

Convenient  Houses.     Chapters  i,  2,  5  and  6.     ($2.50,  postage 

24C.)     Gibson. 
See  Magazines. 

Topics:        Rugs  and  their  Care.    See  Rugs,  Oriental  and  Oc- 
cidental.     ($3.50.)      Rosa   Bell   Holt;   and   Ori- 
ental Rugs.     ($7.50.)     J.  K.  Mumford. 
The  Town  Beautiful,  or  Village  Improvement. 
Home-making  as  a  Professsion. 
(Select  answers  to  test  questions  on  Part  III.) 
Note. — For  further  references  and  topics,   see  syllabus  on 
Shelter,  prepared  by  Lake  Placid  Conference  on  Home  Econ- 
omics.   Price  sc,  of  the  School. 

220 


INDEX 


Accidental  informality,  213 
American  architecture,  20 
Analysis  of  house  plan,  5  7 
Apartments,  95 
Appropriateness  of  draperies, 
141 

of  furnishing,  128 
Architect,  the,  52 
Architect's  plans,  190 
Architecture,   American,    20 

American,     characteristics 
of,  21 

domestic  in  U.  S.  24 

Bilcony,  upper,  184 

B  illoon  frame,  104 

Bithroom,  139 

Badroom  floor  covering,    138 

Badrooms,  137 

Braced  frame,  104 

Brich  veneered  house,  195 

Batler's  table  on  wheels,  181 

Care  of  the  house,  152,  163 

or  marble,  162 

of  rugs,  162 

of  woodwork,  162 
Caves,  5 

Carpets,  109,  117 
Ceiling,  low,  125 
Cellar,  the,  102 
Chairs,  Chippendale,  146 

Hepplewhite,  147 

kinds  of,  146 

Mission,  148 

Morris,  148 

Windsor,  147 


Characteristics     of    American 

architecture,  21 
of  colonial  architecture,   32 
China  closet,  183 
Chippendale  chairs,  146 
City  houses,  western,  44 
Civilization   and   architecture, 

20 

Cliff  dwellings,  10 
Closets,  88 

shallow,  181 

Colonial  architecture,   charac- 
terists  of,  32 

finish,  209 

houses,   New  England,  27 

houses,  old,  25 

houses,  southern,  28 

houses,  types  of,  26 
Color,  125 

harmony  and  contrast,   170 

in  decoration,  170,  179 

of  floors,  1 20 

sense,  124 

Colors,  complementary,  126 
Combination  of  pairs  of  colors, 
table  of,  176 

stairway,  92 
Communal  life,  8 
Comparative  cost  of  exterior 

finish,  194 
Complementary  colors,   126, 

J74 

Compromises  in  building,   203 
Conditions  on  the  farm,   74 
Constants  of  color,  173 
Contrasts,  table  of  color,   178 
Construction  of  houses,  101 


THE  HOUSE 


Conveniences,  kitchen,     155 
Cost  of  building,  189-216 

of  finishing  woods,  206 

of  fixtures,  192 

of  floors,  116 
Coverings  of  floors,  1 20 
Cross-section  paper,  use  of,  58 

Decoration  and  furnishing,  1 23 
Deficiencies     of    old     colonial 

style,  39 
Definite    plan    for   furnishing, 

129 
Development    of    American 

house,  20 

Dinner  route,  the,  84 
Dining  room,  135 

room,  lighting  of,  84 
Division  of  spacers 
Door,  front,  108 
Doors,  107 

cost  of,  205 

sliding,  85 
Draperies,  139 

texture  of,  141 
Drudgery,  164 
Dwellings,  cliff,  10 

lake,  ii 

Early  habitations,  i 

Entrances,  58 

Essentials  in  house  planning, 

96 
Estimating  costs,  methods  of 

196 

Evolution  of  the  house,  i 
Exterior  finish,  194 

Farm  house,  74 

house,  plans  of,  78 
Finish,  definition  of,  208 
Finished  floors,  109 
Finishing  of  hard  woods,   211 

woods,  cost  of,  207 


Fireplaces,  cost  of,  206 
Fire  protection,  108 
Floor  coverings,  1 20 

finish,  kinds  of,  no 
Floors,  1 06,  109 

color  of,  1 20 

cost  of,  116 

finished,  109 

kitchen,  115 

material  of,  109 

oiled,  116 

old,  119 

shellaced,  113 

varnished,  113 

waxed,  114 
foundation ,  102 
Frame,  balloon,  104 

braced,  104 
Front  door,  108 
Furnaces,  cost  of,  205 
Furniture,  145 
polished,  160 

Gas  outlets,    cost  of,  205 
Girders,  105 
Good  lines,  124 
Gradation  of  color,  175 

principle  of,  127 
Greek  houses,  12 

Hall,  80,  130 
Harmony,  126 
Hepplewhite  chair,  147 
House,  care  of,  152 

construction  of,  101 

development    of    American. 

20 

evolution  of  the,  i 
Greek,  12 
Japanese,  16 
modern,  49 
plan,  analysis  of,  57 
plans,  185 
planning,  52,  96 
Roman,  13 


INDEX 


223 


shingled,  105 

style  of,  5 1 

superstructure  of,  103 

Swiss,  1 8 
Houses  of  transitional  period, 

167 

Household  conveniences,      181 
Housekeeping    a    profession, 

163 
Hut.  primitive,  4 

Ice  box,  88 

Interior    woodwork,    painting 

of,  209 
Ironing  board  closet,  183 

Japanese  houses,  16 

Kitchen  conveniences,  155 
floor,  115 
furnishings,  135 
range,  157 
size  of,  87 
use  of,  86 

Lacquer,  161 
Lake  dwellings,  1 1 
Lath,  104 
Library,  86 
Lighting,  127 
Linoleum,  115 
Living  room,  83,  133 
Log  cabins,  24 
Low  ceilings,  125 

Marble,  care  of,  162 
Mattress,  bed,  138 
Men's  sitting  room,  74 
Methods  of  estimating  costs, 

196 
Mission  chairs,  148 

style,  209 

Mixing  of  pigments,  171 
Modern  house,  the,  49 


Monstrosities   in   architecture, 

41 
Morris  chairs,  148 

New  England  colonial  houses, 
27 

Oiling  floors,  116 

Old  colonial  style,  deficiencies 

of,  39 

Old  floors,  119 
Originality  in  planning,  96 
Outlook,  the,  51 

Painting,  155 

of  interior  woodwork,  209 
Parlor,  81,  133 

sets,  150 

Pigments,  mixing  of,  171 
Placing  of  fixtures,  137 
Planning,  96 

Plans  for  $2000  cottage,  184 
Plaster,  104,  163 
Plumbing,  cost  of.  204 
Porches,  position  of,  73 
Preparation  of  site,  101 
Principles  in  selection  of  colors, 

J73 

of  graduation,  127 

of  selection,  129 
Proportion,  81,  123 
Pueblos,  6 

Reception  hall,  60 

room,  82 

Relation  of  rooms,  128 
Remodeling  houses,  152 
Repair  box,  160 
Repairs,  157 
Roman  houses,  13 
Rooms,  80,  130 

relation  of,  128 
Rugs,  no,  121 

care  of,  162 


224 


THE  HOUSE 


Second-floor  plan,  95 
Selection,  principles  of,  129 
Shallow  closets,  181 
Shellaced  floors,  113 
Shelter,  2 

Sheraton  chairs,  149 
Shingled  houses,  105 
Side  entrances,  69 

porch  entrance,  66 
Sill,  the,  105 
Sink,  raising  the,  156 
Site,  50 

preparation  of,  101 
Sliding  doors,  85 
Small  hall,  69 

houses,  cost  of,  192 
Southern   colonial    nouses,    28 
Space,  division  of,  55 
Stairs,  90 

Stairway,  combination,  92 
Storm  windows,  cost  of,  206 
Study,  the,  86 
Style  of  house,  5 1 

of  room,  212 

Superstructure  of  house,    103 
Swiss  houses,  18 

Table  of  color  contrasts,  178 
Table,  raising  the,  156 
Tents,  5 


Texture  of  draperies,  141 
Theories  of  color,  171 
Thoroughfares,  56 
Tools,  159 
Transitional  period,  40 

houses  of,  167 
Tread  and  riser,  90 
Trees  as  dwellings,  3 
Types  of  colonial  houses,  26 

Varnish  removers,  161 
Varnished  floors,  113 
Vestibule,  130 
entrance,  65 

Wall  covering,  131 

paper,  152 

paper,  cleaning,  153 

paper,  cost  of,  153 

spacing,  125 
Washing  windows,  162 
Waxed  floors,  114 
Well  hole,  91 
Western  city  houses,  44 
Window  cupboard,  158 

screens,  cost  of,  205 
Windows,  106 

cost  of,  206 
Windsor  chairs,  147 
Wood -work,  care  of,  162 


COMPLETE  COURSE  IN  HOME  ECONOMICS 

This  course  covers,  systematically,  in  an  interesting  and  practical  way,  the  new 
"Profession  of  Home-making"  and  "Art  of  Right  Living."  It  is  divided  into  forty 
lesson  pamphlets  of  fifty  to  one  hundred  pages  each. 

REGULAR  ORDER  IN  WHICH  THE  LESSONS  ARE  TAKEN 

FOOD  SUBJECTS 
(1)   Chemistry  of  the  Household 

Parts  I,  II,  III. 
(3)   Principles  of  Cookery 

Farts  I,  II,  III,  IV. 
(5)  Food  and  Dietetics 

Parts  I,  II,  III,  IV. 
(7)  Household  Management 

Parts  I,  II,  III,  IV. 


HOUSEHOLD  ART 
(9)  The  House — Its   Plan,  Deco- 
ration and  Care,  I,  II,  III. 
(10)  Textiles  and  Clothing 
Parts  I,  II,  III. 

PARTIAL  LIST 
ISABEL  BEVIER,  Ph.  M. 

Professor    of    Household    Science, 

University    of    Illinois 
S.  MARIA  ELLIOTT 

Instructor    in    Home    Economics, 

Simmons  College,  Boston 
BERTHA  M.  TERRILL,  A.  M. 

Professor    of     Home    Economics, 

University  of  Vermont 
KATE  HEINZ  WATSON 

Formerly   Instructor  Lewis  Insti- 
tute, Chicago 
MARGARET  E.  DODD,  S.  B. 

Graduate  Mass.  Inst.  of  Technology 
ANNA  BARROWS 

Teacher     of     Cookery,     Columbia 

University.    Director    Chautauqua 

School  of  Cookery 


HEALTH  SUBJECTS 
(2)  Household  Bacteriology 

Parts  I,  II,  III. 
(4)  Household  Hygiene 

Parts  I,  II,  III. 
(6)  Personal  Hygiene 

Parts  I,  II,  III,  IV. 
(8)  Home  Care  of  the  Sick 

Parts  I,  II.  III. 

CHILDREN 

(11)  Care  of  Children 

Parts  I,  II,  III. 

(12)  Study  of  Child  Life 

Parts  I,  II,  HI. 

OF  INSTRUCTORS 

ALFRED  C.  COTTON,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 
Professor  Diseases  of  Children, 
Rush  Medical  College,  University 
of  Chicago 

ALICE  PELOUBET  NORTON.M.A. 
Assistant  Professor  of  Home  Eco- 
nomics, University  of  Chicago 

MARION  FOSTER  WASHBURNE 
Editor  of  "The  Mothers'  Magazine" 

AMY  ELIZABETH  POPE 

Instructor     in     Nursing,     Presby- 
terian Hospital,  N.  Y.  City 

CHARLOTTE  M.  GIBBS,  A.  B. 
Director  of   Household  Art,   Uni- 
versity of  Illinois 

MAURICE  LE  BOSQUET,  S.  B. 
Director  American  School  of  Home 
Economics,  Chicago 


BOARD  OF 

MRS.  A.  COURTENAY  NEVILLE 
President  of  the  Board;  First  Chair- 
man Home  Economics  Committee, 
G.  F.  W.  C. 

MRS.  ELLEN  M.  HENROTIN 

Organizer  and  Honorary  President 
General  Federation  Women's  Clubs 

MRS.  FREDERIC  W.  SCHOFF 
President    National    Congress    of 
Mothers 

MRS.  LINDA  HULL  LARNED 
Past  President  National  Household 
Economics  Association 

Miss  ALICE  RAVENHILL 

Commissioner  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment on  Domestic  Science  in 
the  United  States 


TRUSTEES 

MRS.  MARY  HINMAN  ABEL 

Editor  "Journal  of  Home  Eco- 
nomics" ;  Author  U.  S.  Government 
Bulletins 

Miss  MARIA  PARLOA 

Founder  of  the  Original  Cooking 
School  in  Boston ;  Author,  etc. 

MRS.  J.  A.  KIMBERLY 

Vice-President  of  National  House- 
hold Economics  Association 

MRS.  JOHN  HOODLESS 

Government  Supt.  of  Domestic 
Science  of  the  Province  of  Ontario 

MRS.  WALTER  McNAB  MILLER 
Chairman  of  the  Food-Sanitation 
Committee,  G.  F.  W.  C. 


7/20- 
017- 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


Series  9482 


A     000653178     4 


